The Light in the Darkness
by FallingStar5027
Summary: Ariel is a she-cat who wishes to free her family after their imprisonment from the Fall of Thundera. She runs into Lion-O and his fellow cats, so together they set out to find the Power Stones and find new allies along the way. Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living grows stronger with each passing day, but the Thundercats are never going to back down. Not while they are still alive and breathing
1. Prologue

Everyone knows about the prophecy from the Book of Omens. Everyone knows that the King that will lead the Thundercats to victory against Ancient Spirits of Evil would have the ability to harness the power of the Sword of Omens to perform Sight Beyond Sight.

But everyone ignored the inevitable tragedy that was necessary for the true king to awaken. Everyone except the cleric, Jaga.

But the part of the prophecy that was never told was about the Queen who would stand beside the King, and be his shield. This she-cat would be the one to lead, the young fiery King out from his inner darkness and be his greatest ally in his quest to defeat Mumm-Ra. But the only one who knows about the Queen is Jaga.

And just like the King is said to be born from fire, the Queen is said to be born from the smoke, so Jaga searched for generations for the lioness with black hair. It took nearly ten years before he found her. At long last, he had found the single black-maned lioness in all of Third Earth

But he never approached her. He never told her of her destiny. He never told her of the war that was to come that she played a huge role in.

Because in order for the spirit of the true Queen to awaken, she must experience a monumental loss and heartbreak.

This is the story of Ariel and how she found the light in the darkness.

* * *

A/N

Hope you like this story!


	2. Getting Ready

When the sun had arisen that day, no one had expected the long-awaited General that had finally arrived home and walked through the gates was going to bring the fall of Thundera with him. No feline ever even conjured the possibility. Everyone was focused on the party at hand for the arrival of General Grune. But Ariel had much more pressing things to be planning for then attending an extravagant party.

Ariel lived a very carefree life during her time in Thundera. Mostly carefree anyway. The only thing that she worried about was her application for becoming a palace guard and volunteering for the army. But her mother had other plans for me. Being a socialite and getting married was supposed to be Ariel's main goal. It was the afternoon before the celebration, and things were seemingly chaotic in Ariel's household.

* * *

"What do you mean you're not going?" her mother exclaimed. "The whole city is invited to attend the festivities in the plaza. You must go!" The older lioness was walking after her daughter who walked along the corridors only to stop at the main living room.

"Yes ma," Ariel tried to reason calmly, "we were all **invited**. That doesn't mean we **have** to go."

Her mother huffs in frustration. "For heaven's sake, why do you have to be so damn stubborn," she persisted, "Tau! Come down here and tell your bloody daughter that she must go to the festival!" Soft footfalls could be heard coming from the stairs and down the hall, no doubt the large lion father was trying to sneak by but with his luck, he was still summoned into the fray. His sheepish grin proves for an answer as he passes through the doorway into the living room. As he entered, Ariel couldn't help but ponder the differences between her parents

_I don't understand how my parents are able to get along, they are complete and total opposites, _she thought._ My mother's beliefs are based on structure and tradition while my father is more progressive and goes with the flow. She is strict and conservative. He's more easygoing and liberal. I have no idea how they can get along so well but thank Omens for their union or else I wouldn't be here._

"She doesn't have to go if she doesn't want to honey," Tau sighs. "No one is obligated to go. It's just a fun gathering in celebration of my great comrades' return and the fall of a dear friend of mine. I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this." At the end of his rant, Ariel walked over and wrapped her tawny arms around his neck and gave a tight squeeze.

"Thank you, papa," Ariel whispered out before sidestepping him and heading for the stairwell.

"Don't you walk away from me young lady; this conversation isn't finished yet!"

"Just let her be Maura."

"No! I've let this go on for far too long! Ariel Leota, I will no longer allow these intolerable beliefs in my own house. You are not allowed to train with your brother any longer. Or your father. You have become too much of a tomboy and you have yet to bring home any suitors who wish for your hand." Ariel stopped walking and turn abruptly towards her mother and look her dead in the eye.

"But Ma, why do I have to do what society tells me to be? Why do I have to live in the same conformity and lifestyle that you and all the female cats before you have been condemned too? Why is it, that my only goal in life is to become mated to a wealthy or noble tom and then bare his children and become a house cat," she reasoned. "No. I will not stand for it. There is so much more in this world and this life that I could be doing that could better benefit me. I want to learn how to fight ma, I want to learn how to protect myself and the people I love. Is that such a selfish wish? And there are other ways to intrigue toms than just dressing nice and acting coy."

"From experience, I don't believe the boys will find it enlightening that a girl can beat them in a sparring match," a familiar voice drawled out. With a roll of her eye's Ariel turned and glared at the cat leaning against the wall in the doorway.

"No one asked you about your opinion Gur," Ariel hissed at her brother. The smirking lion raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Hey, I'm just saying," he drawled. "No guy likes to get his ass handed to you him by a girl."

"See!" Maura heaves out exasperatedly. Rolling her eyes again and rubbing slow circles into her temples, Ariel tries to contemplate her next words carefully.

"Some egos need to be stomped on a little, my brothers included." With that final statement, the young lioness starts again for the stairs and successfully pushes her no-good brother out of the way and headed to the main door.

"You are going to that party, Ariel. If you don't show up decently dressed I will send you away to live with your aunt up in the mountains and you will never be able to step foot into Thundera!"

Ariel had her paw wrapped around the knob of the door as her mother's voice rang out through the house, followed by Tau and Gur's attempts to try and make her see reason and change her mind. Her whole body went still and it was like there was just white noise surrounding her. Ariel could hear her own heart beating and ragged breathing. The feeling of a ball stuck in her throat wouldn't go away for a few seconds as rapid thoughts occupied her head.

_Would she actually do that? Ruin my hopes and dreams just to get her way? But I already knew the answer. Yes. Yes, she would._

Once stiff ears started flicking upon trying to hear the rest of the now quieted conversation. With a steely resolve, Ariel rips open the door and call out, "I'm leaving," and heads towards the stone streets. When the door finally shuts, she is left alone on the front porch. After taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she tries to calm herself and keep from barging back into the house and screaming bloody murder at her own mother. As she reopens her eyes and releases the breath she was holding in, Ariel takes a few steps onto the walkway curb and wonders where she will adventure to today.

_To the Slums and visit the old dog with 'technology' in his shop? Or towards the palace and meet a couple of friends?_

Then another thought struck her.

With quickened steps, Ariel heads toward the one person who she knew would understand her. All of the streets leading to the Lynx clansmen block was bustling with life. Street shops giving out jewelry, food, and drink all in honor of the arrival of Grune of the Sabretooth Tigers. She chuckles to herself as she weaves through the busy street with her long braid trailing after her as she wears her much too wore out blue training suit. After jogging a few blocks and making a couple of sharp turns, she comes to stand at the doorstep of the Lynx clan's estate.

Grabbing the doorknocker, she beats three consecutive times before pausing and beating again three more times before the door is yanked wide open. Standing at the door was possibly the only person who ever cared about Ariel outside of her own family. The female lynx stands before the lioness in her usual family colors of maroon and orange.

"Well look at what the cat dragged in," Sybil announced as she leaned one paw on the opened door. Sybil was the direct descendant of the famously known General Lynx who is still a great commanding officer of the royal army. Her posture was stiff as she stood in front of Ariel and her voice held a certain wave of tiredness that signaled she had just had a mentally draining day.

"Are you sure I'm the one that got dragged?" Ariel questioned sarcastically. "You look like you've been run over by a carriage then dragged through the barn." Sybil's eyes roll as she looks down at her torn and tattered clothing which has holes where one can see most of her midsection.

"You're one to talk," she jested playfully back, "Yesterday you were the one asking for advice on the best way to stitch up your sparring uniform."

"Touché," Ariel replies while squinting her eyes and smirking at Sybil slightly. Laughing boisterously, Sybil gently grabs her friend's shoulders and brings them closer to embrace. Acting on muscle memory, the young lion holds the shorter lynx tightly. After a few moments of enjoying each other's presence, she releases Ariel before grabbing the lioness' arm and leading themselves inside.

"Now that you're here," Sybil whispers, "I can have an excuse to being locked in my room for the next few hours before we go to the party. My mother is absolutely distraught on what gown I should wear tonight, but with you here, she will surely mellow out." The tension that was on her face earlier seemed to have slipped away as she told Ariel what her dilemma of the moment was.

Ariel sighs deciding to withhold her rendition of the mother-daughter fight not even twenty minutes ago. _Why do lions have to be so proud and difficult, sometimes I swear we're more like tigers than our brilliant and calm ancestors._

Whispering back, "Don't get your hopes up. My ma might just come down here so that they can tag-team us into being the well brought up and feminine daughters we ought to be." They shake their heads as they walk along the corridor. The walk through the hall was quiet, the only thing being heard was their whispered voices and the tap of their feet against the tiled floor. Making a few more turns and passing a few servants, they came upon Sybil's bedroom door which was already ajar.

Shuffling could be heard from inside, mostly squeals of excitement and humming of amusement. The two she-cats look to each other for a brief moment before disentangling ourselves from each other as they made their way inside.

In Sybil's, usually clean and vacant room stood her mother and at her feet, every single gown that had been sowed for Sybil for this season's social events. Which made the floor almost completely covered and intangible. The young lynx beside Ariel huffed as she glared at her mother quietly.

"Mother," Sybil called, "I am trying to entertain a guest so if you wouldn't mind, please leave my room." The settle hint of anger and resentment was very much apparent in her tone, but Sybil's mother had none of.

As if Sybil just quietly cough or knocked on the door, the older female Lynx turned to young females and looked at them as if she has been waiting for their arrival for the last half hour.

"Now come Sybil," her mother argued. "Are you really going to kick me out in the time when you girls need me the most?" Sybil's mother was wearing her long gray hair in waves that reach her mid-back, which paired really well with the strapless red and orange dress that hugged her body but still allowed for a wide range of motion. In all honesty, if Ariel wanted to take any fashion advice, she would much rather take it from Mrs. Levy then her own mother who had uptight buns and long sleeve gowns that had skirts that reached her toes.

Out of her peripheral vision, Ariel could see the hair on the back of Sybil's neck visibly stands up as she seemingly tries to make herself bigger and get ready to engage her headstrong and stubborn mother. _Well . . . like mother like daughter. Why does this scene feel so familiar?_

_Okay, time for some damage control._

"Thank you, Mrs. Levy, but I'm going to have to decline," Ariel's sudden intrusion in there about to be argument quickly dispels the tension of the room. "I will not be going to the party. My official tryout to become a part of the royal guard is coming up and I don't want to be too tired to not train at my best."

That apparently was not the right thing to say. Both lynxes turned to the lioness completely dumbfounded as if she just grew an extra head on her shoulder or suddenly sprouted spots like a cheetah. They both started talking in turn as if trying to finish each other thoughts.

"What do you mean you're not going?" Sybil questions.

"Oh that will simply not do," Levy exclaims

"No, you need to go," Sybil continues, "I am not going to the festival alone, do you know how many cats are going to be there? You know I can't handle being in a big crowd for a long amount of time, and you're the only one who is able to keep me sane."

"You Ms. Ari, are the pride and jewel of your family so this will the best time to show you off and possibly grab a suitor's attention," Levy tried to reason. Ariel visibly deflates under the pleading gaze of the two female lynxes

The one time Ariel needs someone on her side, the usually at each other's throats cats both decided today is the day they are going agree on something, and it has to do with how her night will go.

_What dumb luck._

All resistance left her system as both cats walked closer towards her as if wary that she might run at any moment. Sighing Ariel breathes out a _fine_ before they pounced and pushed her towards Sybil's connected bath chamber. The room is already full of steam from the no doubt warm bathing pool that resides in the middle of the room.

"Ooo you sure won't regret it," Levy exclaimed excitedly as she helps Sybil in stripping the lioness bare before pushing her closer to the large bathing pool. Levy skips out of the chamber listing off all the different hairstyles she could possibly do to their hair and the different gowns she imagines them wearing, her optimistic thoughts bring a slight smile to Ariel's face. Sybil doesn't stand too far from the pool as she too takes off her clothes and steps toward the edge of the bath. Her dark gray and white fur she inherited from her parents could be described as the complete opposite of Ariel's tawny and beige fur. Stepping into the pool until the water reached her chest, the young she-cat leaned against the side edge of the pool.

The expanse of the room is wide and elegant with the few sculptures and drawings of lions, which is to be expected since the lion family is seen as the real-life representation of Thundera so their resemblances are customarily designed in every piece of architecture.

"Is there a reason that you came here today?" Sybil's voice chimed as she brought the attention back to her. "At the door, you looked like you were ready to unload your daily drama just as readily as I had. Problems at home again?"

Nodding her head the lion stares down at the steaming water for a moment before speaking.

"She's at it again," Ariel started. "The social season is almost upon us and that also means that the time of entertaining suitors is coming as well. You know, as well as I, that my mother will not rest until I am married and to a worthy cat no less." She draws her hand behind her back as she speaks and grabs on to the hair tie at the end of her braid, pulling it to let her long black hair fall loose.

Sybil shakes her head at me before nodding in agreement, meaning she's probably already had the same dispute with her mother as well.  
The female lynx sighed as she relaxed more into the water. "That's just how their generation is Ari. They worry more about marriage and money than respect and happiness. They worry about the future and wellbeing of their children, and then their children's children plus all the other next generations until the day they die. After the scare of infertility and famine with the lower cats, you can't really blame them."

"It's still not fair," the emotional lioness snarls before taking a deep breath to try to calm herself. The water ripples as Ariel shifts to face the pool edge with her hair floating on the surface. _Sybil understands what I'm talking about but at the same time doesn't quite see it from my point of view. Lions of my generation are pressured to find mates and have kittens before they turn twenty. There are only eight months before I become twenty_. Ariel hears her dear friend sigh before there was a sudden movement in the water, piquing her curiosity so she turned to find Sybil much closer than she was a moment ago.

"Let's try not to dwell on the depressing parts of the day and try to focus on the future good ones." Sybil tries to reason as she extends a bar of scented soap. A gentle smile graces Ariel's lips before accepting the soap and began to wash clean.

Sybil turns to give her and Ariel some privacy as they begin to bathe.

"So I hear the Prince is going to be at the party tonight," she suddenly states. "He's supposed to be taking part in the festivities and eating, maybe you should go introduce yourself." Ariel's not even facing Sybil and yet she can still hear the smirk in her voice.

"And why on Third Earth would I do that Sybie? I already don't want to be going to this event, bringing attention to myself is the absolute last thing I want to do." Turning her head slightly, the lioness gives the mischievous lynx her best glare before continuing to get rid of the accumulated grime from her feet.

"I know," Sybil groans out. "But come on Ari, you have to admit the princes are cute and you would totally have one if you could."

A scoff leaves Ariel's mouth as she responds back haughtily, "The 'if' is the main point in that sentence. You act as though Prince Lion-O would be especially interested in a lioness like me, a cat with no feminine qualities, and no real pedigree to justify the match. And what exactly would I talk about with him, my try-outs for the royal guard? Being told I shouldn't join the royal guard, no doubt by a royal, would ruin my confidence going into my try-outs." Ariel can't help but think if whether she's trying to convince Sybil that it's a terrible idea, or if she's trying to convince herself.

"Fine, but you have to help me talk and dance with at least two guys tonight. Thundera knows my mother will have eyes on us so we can't get away with keeping to ourselves tonight."

The thought crosses Ariel's mind before she realizes that Sybil was inadvertently right. And her own lion mother was probably going to do the exact same thing, no doubt using Gurr as a scout to find her.

_Yippee._

* * *

Everything that happened after the bath was a blur. After Ariel and Sybil's little soak, they were quickly separated into different rooms to start the primping. Ariel's body was wrapped in towels and rubbed dry before her long hair was brushed and detangled painfully. The lioness had been shoved into five different gowns, all of which were much too small or too large for her. At some point, she just stopped trying to have any say in what happened to her so she just let what was going to happen, happen. After figuring which style dress would suit her best, the tailed servants shoved the nude Ariel from the closet like dressing room into an adjacent guest room.

Sitting at the foot of the bed was Sybil's mother with a maroon robe lying next to her. Mrs. Levy wrapped Ariel in the robe before shoving her in front of a vanity chair and started stroking the lioness' hair. From the window beside the vanity, the sun shined the prevailing light into the room.

"My, my," she gushed "I have always loved the color of your mane dear Ari. It's as dark as the night sky yet when the light catches it just right, you can still see a streak of fiery lion red." Her compliment made Ariel's cheeks warm and her insides knot. Her hair has always been a soft subject, or at least with her family it has.  
In the lion clan, it's typical that every member's mane is red or has a reddish tint to it, it's almost like a symbol in itself. The lighter the color, the more royal or higher status you or your family held. Although both Ariel's parents come from decent middle-upper class families, somehow her color came out to be completely dark while her twin brothers' could rival the young prince.

As the lioness tried to refocus back on the present she noticed that Levy had gotten to work on her hair and was trying to make many small braids out of the lions' dark tresses which had her attention further occupied. Without further social cues, Ariel closed her eyes and vanished inside her own mind.

Remembering the young prince, Ariel tried to think back and recall all that she can about her clan.

Ariel's family was of the lion clan but was never really considered of royal blood or pedigree. There are a total of eight lion families but the main and royal figure was the Atlas lions which served as the great protectors since they were of the original blood that helped forge the basis of the cat society. Most times the Atlas lions breed within their own but every few generations, new blood has to be brought in so that the next heir of royals will be fertile enough to carry on the lineage.

This is why King Claudius, of the fiery maned atlas lions, chose the beautiful and frail Queen Leona of the Senegal lions. But even then, the royal couple were not able to conceive a child for many years it was a miracle when the Queen was still able to bring the next royal child into the world. It is due to the constant generations of inbreeding that the Atlas Lions are becoming infertile but they have no one to blame but of their own virtue and pride.

The other families were different. Much like Ariel's, they bred with others and brought a completely new gene pool and evolution to the offspring for the future. But the genes skipped her generation, unfortunately. Being of both the Kalahari and Krugeri lions makes Ariel's genetics very different than that of her distant cousins who took characteristics of either lineage while she and her twin took from both.

_Then again my brother and I are complete opposites. I am strategic and agile while he is strong and slow, I am a loner while he is a social butterfly, I prefer hunting to dance while he prefers social gathering to anything. I honestly do not know how I and Gur are even remotely related, our tan framed faces and emerald green eyes are the only things to show for our being siblings._

The feeling of getting stabbed by her ear jolts Ariel out my thoughts and back into the present. She looked up at the mirror and made eye contact with Levy who had a huge grin on her face as she stared down at dazed lioness.

"Wow you were really far gone," Levy giggled as she waved a hairpin around. _No doubt what she just probed me with._ "I called your name but you didn't respond. Got something on your mind, Ari? It wouldn't happen to be a boy now would it?"

_Why is it, that the automatic thing that a girl is supposed to think about is a boy?_

The intrusive and nosy lynx caused Ariel to feel a slight flare of anger as she responds honestly, "Nope, no tom for me Mrs. Levy you know that. I'm not exactly the types that boys tend to chase after." I roll my eyes at her as she keeps the grin on her face.

"Maybe tonight will be different, now that you look so nice."

Looking away from Levy, Ariel stares back at her reflection in the mirror. _I look completely different, almost pretty_. Her hair was half tied up in small braids that all connected in the back while the rest of her hair was loose and wavy as it rested on her back. A few black strands framed her face which took attention from the defined tan marking of her cheekbones and instead to her bright green eyes. She also moved Ariel's usual tuft of hair to no longer hang around the right ear so all the gold earrings that are usually hidden by hair could be seen.

As much as Ariel tried to stop the thought it still came none the less: _Maybe tonight __**will**__ be different._

Then the doors connected to the closet burst open ruining the lioness' one true narcissistic moment. In walked a small alley cat who quickly laid a white gown to rest on the bed then pulled a long thin gold necklace with a red ThunderCat insignia pendant. She quickly bows before running out.

Ariel's insides seemed to vibrate in anxiousness as she stares across the room at the dress.

"I've done my best work on you and Sybil tonight. You girls better come back with some good stories if not some good toms to call future husbands," Levy chimes as she starts to walk out. "Try not to scare them all away tonight."

The door closes shut behind her and Ariel suddenly left alone once again. Except she was left alone with a dress this time.

Slowly standing, she approaches the bed. Peeling the robe off, and untying the back of the dress before stepping into it and tightening it to where it felt comfortable yet snug. After shoving the knot back into the dress, Ariel stood in front of the mirror and all she could do was admire the simple dress. It was sleeveless and strapless so she couldn't feel any rubbing on her shoulders and the material reached mid-calf so no fear of it getting ripped while dancing. The torso seems to be fitted yet the skirt is loose with a large slit on my right side that reached all the way to the she-cats thigh. The color was close to being compared to ivory, with only small designs of roaring lions at the hemline of the skirt in thin gold thread. The necklace was a good pairing with the dress as it dangled around her neck with the pendant bumping her lower sternum. But something just didn't seem right.

Everything about the dress was perfect. Except one thing made Ariel feel completely strange.

_Me_. It felt strange seeing herself in more girly attire but it is a welcomed change.

Suddenly Ariel notices the window that displays the slowly setting sun, which means that festivities are about to begin. Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, Ariel heads to the door and calls out to Sybil. But just as she opens the door, who else would be standing on the other side of the door than the aforementioned lynx.

Sybil's usually straight hair is tied up on her head in a ponytail, which greatly contrasted to her usual lazy low bun but now the updo made her gray hair look more like a short bobbed cut than its actual longer length. She wore one of her more exciting two-piece dress. It was a bright yellow, rather a sharp comparison to her gray fur with dark rosettes littering the expanse of her body except for her midriff that was clearly on display. It had a tight long sleeved top and a tight medium length skirt. And dawned on her upper arm is an armband with the insignia of the Thundercats engraved on it.

Sybil's deep brown eyes blew up the size of kittens when she realized her friend was finally ready.

"Bout time," she huffed, but Ariel knew she secretly didn't mind waiting. They weren't exactly the most enthusiastic about tonight's events, Sybil was nervous while Ariel straight up didn't want to go.

"Are you kidding me," Ariel tried to jest. "I was worried that you would have taken longer to get ready. I mean seriously, did you not see all the hay and mud that was sticking out of your hair."

She laughed at that. Reaching out she traced a finger over the pendant the lioness wore before releasing it and instead of grabbing her hand. As she proceeds to drag the freshly clean and dressed female ThunderCat back through the house, Ariel couldn't help but notice that everyone else had already gone.

Sybil must have noticed her wandering eyes.

"While you were getting all spruced up, everyone else decided to head out," she so conveniently explained. "We should hurry, the feast should be starting soon and then the games and dancing should commence. Ha ha ha, I just can't wait to see your brother get challenged and then get beaten." The lynx's outburst brought a smile to her friends face as they started gaining speed heading to the door. Once we got outside and the door was locked, a childish thought struck Ariel.

_What about a race. Thundera knows I can't participate in any of the games tonight, but a friendly one with Sybie should have my adrenaline level high enough for the night._

"How about a race? The last one to the main table has to dance with a guy of the others choosing before the end of the night," the winnings seemed to capture Sybil's attention. The lynx seemingly turns very slowly to meet her friend's eyes as a cheshire smile makes is a way to her face.

One second Sybil is in front of Ariel, the next she's already down the street.

"Hurry up slowpoke!" she calls. "Better be quick or else I'll make you try and socialize with one of my cousins or worse, Prince Lion-O!" Recalling their conversation in the baths earlier, Ariel feels her insides turn cold as she quickly tries to catch up.

One advantage that Sybil has over Ariel is her agility, but the proud lion made up for it with power. The lynx is a head smaller than Ariel which made it easier for her to pass between the drunk and sober cats with ease. But the desperate lioness drives her legs harder into the ground to cover more ground and better jumps over the smaller cats. At some point, Ariel was able to make headway and catch up to Sybil as she continues to jump and dodge civilians. Running down the streets and jumping over fences had both she-cats hearts pumping vigorously and breathing rapidly. _A little friendly competition is always good to have._

The thrill of the wind flowing through her hair and the bouncing of her necklace against her sternum is a lovely distraction as she tries to make her way through the crowd.

The lanterns hanging over the huge lion statue in the center of the city indicates they were close to the finish. Quickly looking over and making eye contact with each other they both sense that the other is just as ready to finish the race, so they both start pushing harder. And Ariel was finally in the lead by a few feet. Then just as the large feasting table that is surrounded by cats comes into view and it seems that they are in the home stretch, the sight of a lone cat stands with her arms crossed that stops Ariel in my tracks. Sybil get a few more steps ahead of her friend before she too stops and notices the reason for the sudden halt.

Standing with her arms crossed and a stern look showed on her face is Ariel's mother, Maura. She's still wearing the long sleeved and loose dark red dress that matches her hair which is tied in a tight bun. Maura was looking over the crowd going toward the tables. _Probably waiting for me to step out in my training suit. Won't she be surprised?_

A few bystanders walk around the frozen in fear lioness and it's not till the third cat bumps into Ariel is when she stands at her full height and lets her mother truly see her appearance of the night. Once her eyes landed on Ariel, three emotions could be seen pass over her mother's face. Confusion, surprise than utter delight. Maura's once discouraging grimace was replaced by a soft and pleasing smile. Giving a slight nod and wave in Ariel and Sybil, Maura turned and what could be described as joyfully skipping away, only to disappear into the sea of cats.

A shaky breath quickly escaped Ariel as soon as her mother was out of sight. _My mother may not be physically stronger than me, but she still scares me. After our little spat today I don't wanna give her any more reason to try and send me away._

"For a moment there I wasn't sure if she was going to kill you or hug you," Sybil giggled as she laid her hand on her lion friend's shoulder. "You alright? You looked about ready to actually fight your mom!" Her statement makes Ariel nervously laugh because, in reality, it couldn't have been further from the truth.

Ariel quickly shakes herself before giving Sybil a large smile and pushing her back slightly while gaining momentum and heading to the crowded tables.

"Don't think that the race was canceled on account of my mother! I'm going to beat you today Sybie!"

* * *

A/N

Hope you like this story!


	3. The Celebration

So she wouldn't accidentally knock into someone, Ariel began to slow down as she came within reaching-distance of the table. After her paw landed on the table she turned to give Sybie a playful smirk but instead her attention was stolen by the mounting treasure General Grune had brought back with him.

The tall shard of crystal was tied with multiple ropes which allowed the lanterns to hang above of the town square and illuminate the courtyard, but what caught the lioness' eye was the crystals protruding out of the rock. Ariel had been standing on the side of the street to witness the soldiers drag the gargantuan piece of rock. In the daylight hours, the crystals had gleamed spectacularly but sitting in the darkness it could be seen as unearthly and dull. Some of the shards seemed to portray the same color as her own eyes under the lighting of the festival lanterns.

After a few moments of gazing at the object, she focused her eyes on a crystal close to the bottom. This particular shard was overshadowed by the one poking out about so it was concealed in its shadow but there was still a slight gleam to it. The dark ominous shard seemed to be emitting a dull light from within.

_I swore I just same something move . . . but that can't be right. I must be seeing things._

Staring at it for three more heartbeats a dark blob seemed to pass over the jewels inner gleam, Ariel suddenly felt the fur on the back of her neck stand on end and blood rushing to her ears.

_Something is wrong, something is very wrong here!_

Suddenly a paw is shaking the black-haired feline that is accompanied by a soft voice calling:

"Ariel? Hello, Ariel! Anyone home!"

Nearly breaking her neck, the lioness turned to the female lynx. _ When did she get right beside me?_ "Did you see that?"

Sybil gives her friend a puzzled looked and opens her mouth, about to answer but her voice is cut off by a much deeper and louder one. They both turned in time to see the King of the Thundercats had taken to the podium just below the Laying Lion statue and was trying to gain the attention of his subjects. The table the she-cats stood at was not twenty feet from the royal lion as he began projecting his voice to make his speech

"It was many seasons ago when . . ." King Claudus began to drone. All eyes were on him as he spoke of his appreciation of General Grune's conquest.

As the two female felines looked on at the big cats, they both couldn't help but notice the sheer monstrous size of the King and the General on his left side.

"Oh my," Sybil breathed out as she shook beside her. "They're huge. Sure I'm used to seeing King Claudus in meeting with grandpappy but General Grune is a whole new level of 'big cat'." Ariel quickly agrees but she wasn't really focused on her friend's words, she was paying more attention to the two smaller males that stood at King's right side.

Tygra wore his usual blue tunic and pants that she had seen him wear during sparring which drew emphasis on his burnt orange fur with the few black stripes that went horizontally down on his arms. His mostly white-colored face was bare except for the black stripe that lined his high cheekbones. Then Lion-O stood next to him in his shorter yet still muscular build with his signature blue tunic and overalls. The young prince had the same coloring as she does except his spiky fiery red mane was definitely inherited from his father, Ariel noticed.

The cheering that insewed shortly after the Kings finished speech is what drew her out of her reverie. Clapping absentmindedly, Ariel hooked her arm around Sybil's as she started making her way towards the food tables on the far side of the courtyard. She wanted to put as much distance between them and the rock.

Different instruments could be heard depending on which part of the courtyard they stood, but it didn't matter. The musicians were all playing the same tune as if they had been orchestrating this song for years. The smell of food was wafting through the air and the two she-cats grabbed a plate to fill with the mouthwatering food as they passed by the array of assorted food tables. Then Sybil and Ariel made their way to a small table in the main portion of the yard after grabbing a few fruit berries and a cup of mead. After setting the plates down, the two cats didn't speak one word as they stood and ate their bit of fruit and meat.

Couples that walked past their table began to join hands and make their way to the dance floor. Ariel gives her friend a confused look as she hears Sybil sigh while longingly look at the dancing couples. "What's with the sighing? Has the brainwashing of your mother somehow got you to crack?" Bringing the cup up to her mouth and taking a sip of her fruity drink, Ariel watches her friend intently.

The lynx grimaces as she stares after the dancers and drinks from her own cup. "You know I hate the thought of marrying for the benefit of it and as much as I don't want to prove my own mother right, maybe having a mate wouldn't be so bad."

The mead that was in Ariel's mouth nearly made another appearance, except this time all over her friend who stood across from her. She forces the liquid down as a coughing fit escapes her. As soon as her breathing was calm she tries to speak but Sybil quickly tries to explain herself.

"Trust me, I am not thinking of marriage right now. I'm barely nineteen and the last thing I need is to get knocked up before going on duty at the palace. But at the same time, would it be so terrible to have some cat in my corner when days are rough. Or somebody who will try to understand me that isn't related to me."

_Thought that somebody was me._ _My best friend in all of Thundera was going to replace me and with a guy no less._ Dejectedly, Ariel finishes her fruit and cup of mead.

"I'm going to get another drink," she whispers she picks up her plate and walks away.

"Wai-," Sybil tries to call out but her voice is lost in the boisterous noise of laughter and song.

The mead barrel was just being replaced when Ariel finished throwing her plate away. She filled the cup to the brim before shooting the sugary concoction back. After the last gulp, the lioness couldn't help but feel a little warmness reach her cheeks. Pushing the hair that fell over her eye back into place, the lioness gets lost in thought.

_I have known Sybil since we were cubs, so whoever she decides to marry will have to deal with her being a key part of my life._ A smile breaks across her face as she throws away the cup and turns to rejoin Sybil again.

But as she makes her way back, a paw reaches out and grabs her wrist. The slight drunk lioness prepares to snarl and yell at whoever dared to lay a hand on her, but she stops once she notices the bright yellow dress and small serious-looking lynx staring up at her.

"You know I love you right?" Sybil questions. "You have been like a sister to me since we were young, you're basically family and I just seem to forget that sometimes. I'm sorry if what I said earlier struck a nerve, I didn't mean to be so whiny. Trust me I am beyond happy to have you in my life, so believe me when I tell you that whoever and whenever I marry, you will always come before them."

Her little speech almost makes Ariel want to hug her and cry, but she can't do that since they were out in public. Instead, she heaves a deep breath and swallows the lump in her throat and grabs her paw, "I love you, too. Now, let's go have some fun!"

Sybil's once serious face transformed into one of pure delight, her paw squeezing Ariel's gently before she starts leading them to the dancefloor, all the while they were both giggling like crazed jackals.

After dancing five songs together, the lynx and lioness notice the congregation of the oncoming champions that were about to participate in the games. Sybil squeals girlishly as she began dragging Ariel behind her to go meet some of the warriors before they too made their way to the arena to grab their seats. They giggle half drunk and half still on a dance high as they make their way across the courtyard but a low noise causes an icy hot feeling to shoot through Ariel.

An angry hiss was vibrating through the air.

The lioness turns her head and witnesses a cruel punishment being dealt upon a defenseless animal. In the corner of the yard laid two lizards who were locked and bound by stockades. And they were ultimately helpless against two young cats that were pelting them with rotten fruit.

_NO animal deserves to be treated like that._ Ariel attempts to gently wriggle out of Sybil's grip but the lynxes hold is too tight. She seems to still be focused on meeting a champion. Making another attempt that ultimately fails, the she-cat tries to yell at the kittens but a tall figure beats her to it.

Prince Lion-O stands tall, much taller in person than on stage, and shoos the cats away as he talked down to the lizards_._ Being dragged further and further away, Ariel watches as Prince Tygra soon joins his adoptive brother before they both leave the lizards to grovel alone in the dirt. _Every animal should be shown at least a little bit of mercy. They need help._

Still watching the lizards, the lioness notices that she has stopped being forcefully moved, and after turning her head she figures out why. Sybil had stopped and was flirting with a gladiator cat. _Trust Sybil to become boy crazy and finally start talking to a boy after three cups of liquid courage all in the same night._ Looking around and seeing that most of the cats were heading to the arena Ariel comes up with a plan to distract her friend so that she could try and help the poor lizards. _Perfect._ Feeling the lynxes grip slacken, she quickly takes her wrist back before injecting herself into the conversation.

"Excuse me, sir, I seemed to have forgotten a token for my male challenger at home, so if you wouldn't mind escorting her while I go back and get it. And if you could, please seat her on the north side on the first row."

The tom smiles at down at Sybil warmly before he nodded and extended his arm, the one not holding a spear, to the female lynx. The lioness' friend gives Ariel a look of confusion and surprise before she takes the male's arm. As they walked away, Sybil turned back to look at her friend and raised an eyebrow, probably to question her friend's true intentions. The sneaky lion just waved at her as she and the jaguar disappeared into the crowd of sober and drunk cats who are all eager to see other felines fight each other.

When the last cat leaves the courtyard, Ariel grabs a few legs of meat and cups of water before making her way to the stockade. The two lizards had their eyes shut so they weren't aware of the feline's presence until she spoke.

"Would either of you happen to be hungry?" she asked warily. Both their heads shot up as her voice rang out. Both had their eyes glues to the two plates in my hand, the one on the right was practically drooling.

"And why would we take the food you give us," The one on the left snarled. "You probably poisoned it."

"If I poisoned it, would I really ask you if you wanted it or not? Trust me, I don't like you as much as you don't like me but I have always believed that one should treat others how they would wish to be treated. What is being done is unfair and cruel, so the least I can do is feed you a meal when you don't when which day will be your last."

The snarky lizard got quiet at that and watched with widened eyes as the female cat held the cup out for him to drink. He gulped it down greedily, and the other one did as well. After letting them drink, Ariel tore the meat into pieces so they wouldn't have trouble swallowing. As they ate they told her how their lives were plagued by sickness and the indifferent cats who wouldn't share their crops and resources. And as much as the lioness wants to defend that what the cats were doing was justified, she couldn't help but think that the cats were abusing their resources and not using them to better all of Third Earth. It was only after two more cups of water and a plate of fruit, that each lizard was satisfied.

"Thank you Miss . . ." the once snarky lizard tried to say.

"Ariel," she states with a small smile.

"You Miss Ariel are probably the kindest cat we have yet to meet in this place," the other lizard stated, "and for that, we are eternally grateful. I am Zar, and that paranoid fool is Naz."

"Most likely the first and last as well," Ariel tells them. "Not many cats hold the same belief that all animals are equal or any compassion for the poor and sick. Cats of the royal court turn their noses at the poverty of our own slums, which is why I try and help the orphans and the homeless by supplying them with food and books."

Ariel's sudden discussion seemingly caught them by surprise. She grows conscious of her ramblings and could feel her cheeks heat under their scrutinizing gazes. During the beat of silence, a slight breeze whizzed past the group and pushed the lioness' black hair wildly to one side. Ariel reached and quickly proceeded to comb her fingers through her hair to get it back to its original style.

"You seem to hold great kindness for being a cat, Miss Ariel," Zar commented.

"It will be your downfall, some animals might take advantage of your kindness," Naz haughtily warned.

The fur on her shoulders and the back of her neck bristled as she quipped back, "How is that you try to find a fault in everything that a cat does even when they have done you no wrong. You speak as if my actions have brought you discomfort or harm, yet it is through my kindness that you will not starve to death tonight." The she-cats remark had its intended effect and quieted Naz.

"Don't let what he says bother you, Miss Ariel, a lion such as you can surely make a difference here, and hopefully one day beyond these walls may you do the same," Zar said to me as he bowed his head.

She pats his head grateful for his comment before quickly gathering the plates and standing up. "I don't think I'll be able to sneak food to you in the future because the guards will be everywhere as soon as the celebration is over. I'm happy to have helped you and I wish you both a good night."

As she turned and walked away, Ariel heard Zar whispering to Naz, "What is with you and helpful lions, do you mean to anger them, or are you unintentionally doing it?"

_They must be talking about when Prince Lion-O saved them from being pelted with fruit._ She shakes her head at the thought and begins to jog in the direction of the arena. After setting the empty plates on a nearby table, the lioness starts at a dead sprint. As she passes through the streets of Thundera, the young female that the vacant streets made it seem like the ghost towns that she read about in stories. The wind whistled in her ears and through her hair as she made her way down the streets. The pendant bounced incessantly against her sternum with every step she took.

When the arena comes into view, the synchronized cheering and yells of cats can be easily heard.

_Hopefully, Sybie hasn't been waiting for me for long._ Once coming to the north entrance, Ariel makes her way to the middle aisle so that she can better look for Sybil. But to her utter surprise, the young lynx was standing on the front row and was closest to the aisle. Not only was the view of the games great, but the royal family seated at their table enjoying the entertainment could also be plainly seen. _Looks like some guys can take orders._ As if having a sixth sense, the yellow dressed cat suddenly turned around and smiled at her friend before proceeding to wave the lioness over.

Only after placing herself next to her dear friend does Ariel relax slightly. As she watches the two cats that were competing she made the educated assumption that the King had already made the toast. Watching as two feral cats fight against each other, she recalls she never really quite understood the meaning of the competition.

In the center of the arena is a large glowing of water form which large plant branches have grown in a winding maze with a large bell hanging at the top. So warriors must fight in order to see who can knock down the other and ring the bell to attain victory. She never quite understood the contest but watching it now, Ariel saw that it looks like fun and wondered if they would allow a she-cat to participate.

Feeling an abrupt tug on her dress Ariel brings her attention to Sybil. And just as the lioness looks towards the short lynx she notices the tom that had escorted her but he was no longer wearing his protective armor and he was now wearing his plain gray tunic and pants. And he was confidently standing very close to her with his arm around her waist and the armband she wore was now donned on his wrist. _Oh, Levy is going to love this._

Looking at him closer, he could correctly be identified as a jaguar with his gold skin and dark brown rosettes that littered his arms and visible collar bone which is odd since his face just has brown spots over his eyes and his mane is completely dark brown.

"Ariel, there's someone I'd like for you to meet," Sybil shouts as she tries to be heard over the cheering. "This is Jack he's a royal guard at the palace." _Insert eye roll._ "And is overseeing the training of all the new recruits of every military division." The somewhat trained lioness felt her whole body perk up. Sybil must have seen her lion friends eagerness and continued to introduce them further. "Jack, this is my best friend in the entire world, Ariel. Ariel here is trying to join the royal battalion, she will be the first female lion to stray from the trophy wife path and become a part of military expeditions. Just like me!"

Sybil's prompt speech had an immediate effect on Jack's once confident disposition. His eyes widen and his stance seemingly stiffens and straightens. Ariel couldn't restrain the eye roll she had at Jack's reaction.

"Don't worry, we're not after your position," the young lioness smirks at him, "if anything I just have questions on how tryouts are. But we can wait for after the games when we're at a quieter place." At her declaration, all three Thunderians turn their attention back to the games.

After noticing that no cats were fighting at their eye level to the branches Ariel starts to make a joke about when the show will start but observe two new cats at the bottom getting ready to begin.

_S_he easily recognizes the new cats competing and all words failed her.

Prince Lion-O and Prince Tygra were getting ready to face off against each other. Looking back up to the balcony where the royal family was usually perched, she noticed the absence of the two young princes and her heart races faster.

The lioness braced her paws on the edge and leaned further over the edge to get a better view of the cats about to begin their match.

"Prince Tygra is going to win," A male voice whispers into her right ear. Ariel's instantaneous reaction is to whip her head back and drive it into whoever is behind me, but a hand stops her head from meeting a nose. "Woah, Woah, Woah, easy. I didn't mean to scare you." She lifts her gaze off the princes and turns her attention to the male cat who just so happens to be Jack. The lioness looks over his shoulder to find that Sybil is happily chatting away with the older female wildcat that stood close by.

"Yeah, well, you did scare me," she scoffs, "Forget about it, it's fine. I'm just really jumpy."

"I noticed," Jack replied. "But don't you agree that Tygra is going to win?"

"Umm no," Ariel quickly answers. "My money is on Prince Lion-O. Tygra is too high strung, besides it's about time someone deflated the tiger's ego a little bit."

"Pfft as if that tomcat could beat Tygra," Jack proceeds to laugh, "he never takes training seriously while Tygra has been training way longer and harder than King Claudus will ever know. I honestly believe Tygra would make a much better King."

Ariel grits her teeth at Jack's blatant disrespect of the rightful king and growls threateningly. "Whatever, I hope Lion-O beats Tygra just to prove you wrong."

"Wanna make a bet?" Jack proclaims with a huge grin on his face, "If you win then I'll put in a good word for you at your tryouts, but if I win you have to give me that so-called token you needed to get."

She blanches slightly at being aught in her lie. Trying to not let him know of the inner turmoil she raises her eyebrows as she asks, "What are you going to do with it?"

"I honestly don't know, maybe I'll give it to my competitor and tell him it came from an admirer or maybe I'll hand it, Prince Lion-O, himself and tell him that you are madly in love with him." Both options have blood and heat rushing to her face. Ariel's trust in her best friend keeping her trap shut about her secret crush a **secret** was gone.

Jack extends his paw out to the shocked lioness. "What do you say?"

Ariel went over the pros and cons of the prospect of her winning but also the possibility of her losing multiple time in her head. Looking back down at the two princes, Ariel steels her nerve and shakes Jack's paw. "You're on."

The horn flares and all attention is diverted directly to the two cats who began their climb to the top.

All of Ariel's sole focus is on the match, she can practically hear the sound of the two princes nails cutting into the wooden branches as the project themselves forward. Lion-O takes the lead for a moment but is swiftly punched and knocked down a few feet by Tygra. With her heart in her throat, Ariel watches as Lion-O gains speed and is able to land a few good hits on Tygra. The brothers are neck and neck and Ariel's hopes of winning slowly raise the closer the princes get to the bell. But when both big cats make it to the top, the movement of Tygra's lips does not go unnoticed, no doubt hurling insults to try and anger Lion-O and bait him. Which ended up happening. And as she watched Lion-O take the tumble down to the pool and Tygra joyfully ringing the gong, one word could describe how she felt.

Numb.

She felt lifeless and cold. _So much for having extra help for tryouts._

As if on autopilot Ariel raised her hand to her throat and grabbed the chain of the pendant and proceed to lift it over her head and extend it to Jack.

"I can't believe you bet with her Jack," Sybil scolded. "I told you that Ariel has always been the underdog supporter, that doesn't mean you can take advantage of her. Plus this is Prince Lion-O who is going to our next King, why would you bet against him?" The chain leaves the lioness' grip before she turned to watch the couple as they bicker.

"I know but I honestly thought she was going to ignore me after I told her what I might do with it," Jack tried to defend himself. "But I've never met a female lion that wasn't already spoken for so I wanted to see how she'd react when I teased her a little about her crush."

Usually, after hearing a statement like that, Ariel would have started yelling at the overconfident tom but all she could do was turn back and watch as the young prince swam to shore and walked with is head lowered in submission as his adoptive brother gloated and keened at his win. She still felt lifeless. Her confidence and onesided crush for Lion-O greatly outweighed her logic for a single moment and that was what caused her imminent loss. Ariel

Ariel closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself climbing the branches and fighting against another cat, how hard would it be to hit the water from a high fall and the feeling of utter defeat when being so close to the finish only to be shoved down and pushed aside.

Being shaken awake immediately takes the female cat out of her dreamland and back into reality. Looking to her right she notices that Sybil again stood beside her except she was now alone. Noticing her friends worried look, Ariel began to feel like her usual self but she still had sour thoughts to her loss against Jack

"Where's Jack?" she asks her friend.

"He went down to get ready for his fight," Sybil explained, "he's been gone for a little bit actually so he should be down on the floor soon." And just as she said that two cats had swum from the outer edge and crouched ready to climb the limbs of the branches. One of the cats was Jack, his gray military under tunic was a dead giveaway. The other cat was a cat with a build similar to Lion-O except his fur was black and he was wearing a dark green shirt with beige pants.

As soon as the horn sounded, and both cats began their ascent, the outcome of the fight could already be determined. Jack's opponent was faster than him and lied in waiting at certain branches to knock Jack down a few yards before climbing up higher to do it again. At one point Jack seemed to have the upper hand and was about to reach the bell first but the panther grabbed his ankle and pulled him to a lower branch where they preceded to duke it out.

Through the entire fight, Jack wasn't able to get a single hit in. Every punch was deflected and his kicks were all evaded. But his opponent landed every one of his. It was when Jack received a swift punch to his jaw and knee to his rib cage when the jaguar conceded the fight. Having bested his competitor, the black panther was ringing the bell as Jack lied on a lower ridge holding his injured side. Ariel snicker at Jack's defeated posture as he makes his way down the branches but looking back up to the victor she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. But they weren't.

On the branch with the hanging bell, the opponent panther stands tall with his arms raised and in one hand the lioness' pendant was dangling from his grip.

"Looks like you got to favor the victor tonight," Sybil jested quietly to me. "Lucky you."

Ariel still stood watching the victor, gobsmacked, so she could do was nod her head._ Yeah. Lucky me._

"Well, why don't we head back to the town square? Jack wants to meet up with us so I told him that we'd be standing by the jagged rock. And don't worry Jack told me that you'll get your necklace back when he finds us."

"Yeah sure," Ariel's monotone voice responded. Talking to the jaguar again was not what she wanted to do, but the tom seemed to make her friend happy so the lioness could only go along for the ride.

But did they really need to stand near the towering piece of rock

Ariel rolled her eyes as Sybil pushed past her and rapidly walked up the steps to leave the arena. A sigh leaves her mouth as she makes a move to follow after her friend but she suddenly feels a pair of eyes following her movement. Looking around she notices that none of the standing or cheering cats even noticed her but when she turned towards the game area she made eye contact with the onlooking cat. And Ariel feels her blood run cold for the second time that night.

King Claudus was staring at her from his seat on the balcony.

No, it couldn't be. Ariel was not of the royal court and has never once stepped foot inside the royal palace so he shouldn't recognize her. _Then why does he look at me as if he knows me_? To test her theory and find out if the King is truly watching her, the black-haired lioness bowed her head to see if the King would respond. And to her utter surprise, the King bowed his head as well in greeting.

Feeling completely at loss for words, Ariel turns and nearly trips as she makes her way up the stairs to the exit.

* * *

After her short staring contest with the King of Thundera, the lioness walked half in dazed confusion back to the main plaza. But now she stood near the center of the courtyard with a crystal rock ravaging her thoughts instead of the strong and ferocious King.

Standing ten feet from the base of the rock made Ariel's skin crawl. She had no idea how some cats had the ability to even stand and lean on the cart carrying the rock. Not being able to explain it, something about the rock just made her nervous and put her on-edge.

While glaring at the rock, Ariel failed to hear her best friend's speech as she gushed over Jack. Sybil hadn't stopped raving about the male jaguar once they stepped foot out of the arena.

". . . He was just so strong! Did you see the way he took that punch and did you see his form when he was climbing up the arena? Ugh! And the way he accepted his loss with dignity. What a true gentleman," Sybil prattled on. "I mean honestly we'd be a match made in heaven." The lynx and lion stood beside each other facing the rock but Sybil had yet to pay any attention to her surrounding or even check if Ariel was even listening to her.

Usually, the lion would have disagreed and listed all the reasons for Sybil not to woe over the male cat but all that left her mouth was an 'uh-huh' as she continued to stare at the slab of rock that sat in the center of the courtyard. That's when the lynx turned and finally noticed that her friend was not really listening intently as she once thought.

"ARIEL!"

Her screech caused the black-haired cat to jump slightly as she swiveled and gave Sybil her undivided attention.

"What?!"

"What do you think about Jack," the lynx asked calmly as if she hadn't just screamed like a banshee a moment ago, "or more specifically, about Jack and I?"

The lioness gave her friend a dumbfounded look before scratching her head and replying with, "The tom seems nice, real proper fellow but Sybie, you've only known him a little less than an hour. You can't possibly be in love with him already. Besides what happened to not getting married too early. I realize your mother's wishes must have suddenly had an impact on you, but you shouldn't be trying to attach yourself to the first available guy you meet. Besides what happened to that whole conversation about no male coming between us?" Ariel quickly figured out that was not what her best friend wanted to hear based on lovesick look fell from the lynx's face and was substituted by an angry sneer.

"Excuse me? What do you me-?" Sybil began to question defensively, but for the second during their night together, her voice was drowned out by a male's loud yelling.

"Sybil!" Jack called as he jogged up to the two she-cats from the outer edge of the courtyard. How convenient, he comes just when their conversation was going to turn sour. Now Ariel will be able to witness her friend fawn all over the jaguar in real-time. But what the two female cats failed to notice was that Jack was being followed by another male. And to their bewilderment, it was Jack's opponent that had beaten him.

Coming from behind Jack's shadow, the dark-haired cat made his presence known and bowed slightly as he made his way closer to them. That's when Ariel was able to get a good look at him. He really was a panther she realized, from his lack of rosettes on his bare shoulders and black mane of long hair that combed out of his darkly marked face. His gold eyes seemed to glow as he stared down at her.

Once the panther was in reaching distance, the male cat brought his hand from his side and held it out to Ariel. In his palm lied the pendant she had earlier seen dangling from his hand during his victory howl. She nearly choked on her own spit. This panther had no idea who she was but came to personally give her back her necklace. Looking down at the piece of jewelry, she reached her paw to take it back but as her paw rests atop his, the panther encloses her paw with his other one.

Looking back up, Ariel notices that the once indifferent expression that had rested on his face was gone and instead replaced but a small and wistful smile.

"Thanks for your token," his deep voice purred. "All the other champions had some sort of pin or bracelet from their female friends and I had none. Jack knew about my dilemma and said he told you and out of the kindness of your heart, you lent your pendant to give to me. To be quite honest, I honestly did not think I was going to win but your kind-hearted gesture gave me the confidence to put all my heart into winning if not for me then for you."

His proclamation of faith in her thoughtfulness, made her feel guilty and silly about the true reason for the pendant coming into his possession.

"You're welcome sir but it really was no problem," Ariel tried to playoff his declaration. "Anyone would have done the same thing." She quickly wrapped her fingers around the necklace before gently removing her paw from his embrace. She takes a step back and places the necklace to lay around her neck.

"Well I still wish to repay you in some way," the panther continued to push. "Name it and I'll do it. I'll do anything."

_Anything?_ A devilish smirk made its way to her lips

"Alright then," Ariel responded. She looked over to the jaguar and lynx that were currently wrapped in each other's embrace. _Those two need to seriously get a grip. _"Hey Jack, what are the tryouts like this year?"

Without disentangling himself from Sybil, Jack nonchalantly answered, "All potential recruits must go compete in the arena against a veteran champion." Not missing a beat, the lioness turns back to the panther with a wide grin on her face. _H__ow fun and exciting!_

"Do you think you can get us into the arena tomorrow morning?" At his nod, Ariel continues, "Then meet me at the north entrance and come ready to train."

At her response, the panther's face goes from confused to surprise but she knows that he understands what she intends to do. Just as he opens his mouth to say something, everyone's awareness is stolen by the commotion from the outskirt of the courtyard. A huge crowd was screaming and hollering at something and waving torches around. It took another moment of observation for Ariel to realize where those cats were standing.

By the lizard stockade.

With speed she had no idea she possessed, the lioness took a running start for the crowd. She heard Sybil's call after her which was closely joined by Jack's and her new panther friend, but she wasn't going to stop. Just as she had stood in Sybil's corner before to fight against the lynx's planned arranged marriage, Ariel will stand to fight against the cruel and unusual punishment laid upon the lizards.

Suddenly an arm wraps around her midsection and lifts her clean off the ground.

"A lady like you shouldn't be running headfirst into a crowd of crazy drunk felines," a now-familiar deep voice whispered lowly. "And I didn't get introduced myself earlier, but the name is Leopold."

But the lioness wasn't particularly happy about being off the ground, she wiggled and growled in Leopold's vice-like grip and tried desperately to get free. Then a riot began. In a frenzy she tried to free herself more aggressively, but then Ariel noticed who was fighting on the lizard's behalf and she ceased her struggling.

The lowly alley cats were fighting against Prince Lion-O and Tygra alongside a cheetah cleric. The winning side is obvious in her humble opinion. _The fools. _Just by watching, Ariel could tell that the cheetah was a trained fighter with the expert handling of her bow staff. The crack of Tygra's whip would scare any normal cat but the drunk and prideful cats still tried to fight.

Being set back on her feet, the lioness stood and watched as the young lion prince defended himself from the onslaught of crazed cats. Being less than three yards away, she felt the need to step in and support her future king, but then she remembers that Leopold still stands beside her, ready to catch her if she makes a run for it.

Then the voice she had heard at the beginning of the party made a resurgence.

"Lion-O!" King Claudus called. The throng of cats parted to make way for the King who was accompanied by General Grune and two royal guards. "What is going on here? Protecting lizards?!" The prince turned to his father and declared how the imprisoned lizards should be freed. The notion surprised every cat that was listening, even and especially Ariel.

She watches in awe as another cat, another lion at that, showed mercy and compassion towards members of a species they should condemn and hate. When she hears that the King agrees to follow his son's wish and set the lizards free, she acted fast.

"Will you tell Sybil that I'm calling it a night," she inquires. "And we're still on for tomorrow morning, right?"

Never looking away from the King who stood in front of him, Leopold nodded his head before turning and running back where her friend and his once opponent still stood. Ariel watched the panthers back for a moment before breaking away to a table. An empty knapsack sat on the edge of a table with no one guarding it, but was quickly taken up by the lioness and then filled with fruits and meat.

With her hair bouncing and clinging to her fur in sweat, Ariel pushed herself to near exhaustion as she tried to catch the lizards before they reached the wall. She sprinted three blocks straight and began to jog up the hill between shopping distract and the clothing district before she saw the tips of the lizards head from beyond the hill. Once she caught up, she noted the two lanky guards who stood watching them. Hiding behind a nearby corner, she picked up a large pebble before throwing it into a nearby alleyway. The sound caught the guard's attention so they took a brief moment to scope out the alley. And that was the opening that she needed.

As if her feet were on fire, she took quick steps towards the anxious lizards before taking the strap of the knapsack and hanging it around Naz's neck who hissed at the unanticipated pressure. Once Naz and Zar turned and saw her, surprised looks crossed their faces before they both bowed their heads. Ariel bowed back before turning and blending back into the shadows.

When the guards returned. They noticed the knapsack that suddenly appeared around the lizard's neck but seemingly chose not to comment on it. The lioness watched from her corner as the two lizards disappeared from view. Once she could no longer hear or see them cat guards or the lizards, Ariel began making her track back home.

She knew she was never going to see the lizards again.

She knew that no cat was going to commend her on her act of kindness.

But she still did it. The lioness remembers when she was in a low spot and she almost wanted to end it, but it was a stranger's unforeseen act of charity that saved her spirit and pushed her to live on and be a better version of herself every day.

_Maybe Zar and Naz will repay me one day_ she mused when she stared up at the moon overhead as she walked slowly down the street.

* * *

A/N

Sorry if you didn't notice but I first began to write the story in first person but it didn't feel right so I chose to do it in third person but Ariel's thoughts can still be read in italics. Didn't mean to confuse anyone and I'm sorry if there are any pronoun mistakes, I tried my best to catch all of them but I still missed a few. This chapter is one of my longest ones and if the speed of the dialogue and setting is too fast I'm trying to fix the way I write. But I'm proud of this chapter and I hope y'all like it too!


	4. The Beginning of 'The Fall'

Waking up wasn't always easy, especially after a long night filled with dancing, laughing, and fighting. But for Ariel it was easy. Because today she was going to meet with Leopold and train in the arena. Just the thought of being able to fight between the branches as hundreds of other cats had, made her whole body hum in delight.

Ariel still had the dress on when she woke up, so the first thing she did was peel the piece of fabric off. Sleepily, the lioness heads towards her closet to grab her usual training garb. Looking at her clothes, she momentarily stares at the bare hanger that usually has her sparring gear. Then she remembers that she got dressed at Sybil's place before the party. Pouting at her forgetfulness, she shuffles through her other outfits that would be wearable during her training.

After nearly pulling out her entire closet, Ariel decided to wear the dark green tight pants that paired well with a black high neck tank top. The design had the fabric wrapping around her neck, and also left the expanse of her upper back completely exposed. The pendant she wore the night before lied on her nightstand, but she quickly grabbed it before unhooking the chain so she could wrap it multiple times around her neck to make a choker. Checking her earrings, she decided to switch out the two gold hoops for silver studs. Her hair was a knotted mess from her running the night before, so brushing out the tangles made the braiding process very difficult and slow.

Once finished with her wild hair, the lioness made her way to the kitchen to grab an apple before heading to the arena. The kitchen was still mostly dark when Ariel passed through the threshold and went straight for the bowl of fruit on the table. Passing by the counter, she failed to notice the cat watching her entrance.

"So when were you going to tell me?" A voice asked inquisitively. The sudden voice startled Ariel and made her jump.

_How long has she been standing there?_

Just by hearing the voice, Ariel already knew who it belonged to. She turned to find her mother perched on the counter nursing a cup of water.

The lioness swallowed thickly before speaking, "Tell you what exactly?" She was nervous, wondering if her mother had a spy who watched every step she took. Did her mother know about her act of mercy on the two lizards? She hoped not. But when Ariel looked at her mother, she only saw a smile that was rarely showed to her.

"Why about your beau of course!" Her mother squealed as she put her cup down before launching herself at her daughter.

Her mother's sudden expression of enthusiasm surprised her. In stunned silence, Ariel stood confused and wondered what her mother could be talking about. On one paw, she doesn't seem to know about my helping the lizards, but still what is she talking about?

Then it dawned on her. Her mother did have a spy watching her, and they probably saw when Leopold was bent at the knee holding her paws within his.

"Oh mom," Ariel sighed. "This is a huge misunderstanding. Nothing is going on between Leopold and I. He wasn't professing his love to me or anything. I-I just met him last night." She thought her explanation would at least put a pause to her mother's uncontained happiness. It didn't.

Maura squeezed her daughter tightly before releasing her and looking deep into her eyes. "And based on the way he acted, I'm guessing it won't be the last. I'm so glad that you finally caught a proper tom to marry."

The young lioness's shoulders fell in defeat.

_Why would I think that she would even care?_

Shrugging out of her mother's hold, Ariel turned to grab the apple from the table. Once in hand, she attempted to leave the kitchen, but her mother's cold voice rang through the room.

"And don't think your brother didn't see you helping those lizards."

She stopped midstep. She completely stopped breathing, the sudden fear of punishment for her actions wrapping around her throat, constricting her airway. The air was thick with tension as she stood at the doorway.

"Let's just hope no one was sober enough to remember what you did or what you looked like."

The lioness nodded her head in understanding as she stood at her mother's mercy. Without even looking towards her mother, Ariel already knew that Maura's arms were crossed; but still, the young lioness turned her head to face her mother's glaring eyes.

"Don't let that kind nature of yours be seen by your enemies Ariel," her mother explained. "They will strike you down at any display of weakness."

"Yes ma'am," Ariel replied quietly. Quickly, she makes her way out of the kitchen and heads straight for the front door. But just as she opens the door to leave, a royal messenger stands ready to knock on said door.

Fixing his posture, the royal messenger bows before reaching into his message parcel and retrieving a piece of paper.

"A message milady," the cat proclaimed. "Sent from King Claudus for Lady Ariel. Is she home?"

Puzzled she responded, "I am she."

At her response, the tomcat was flustered and reddened before hurriedly calming himself and extending the paper out to her. Taking the paper with her free paw, Ariel watched as the messenger bowed again before leaving. She stood perplexed, watching the messenger walk out to the street before looking to the letter she held in her paw.

Quietly, she took a step back and closed the door with her foot. Still facing the door, Ariel stares down at the royal wax seal on the letter before deciding to open and read the contents. She brings the apple to her mouth and holds the fruit between her teeth as she takes her now free paw and opens the seal.

It was a simple page of parchment, but it seemed to be different than the usual official documents sent to their address. The letter itself wasn't unusual, but what was written in it was. It was handwritten and signed by King Claudus himself instead of the standard stamps applied to most letters that were sent.

It read:

**Ariel,**

**I know this may come as quite a surprise to you, suddenly receiving a letter from the King out of the blue, especially after our little encounter last night, but it is necessary. Writing a letter to you has long since been overdue, but I digress. You probably don't remember, but back when you were a cub we had met on the streets. You were a small little lioness hanging off your father's hand, but I saw your passion, helping the young orphans in the slums. You were a ray of light and generosity in a sea of darkness and greed. I knew back then that you were going to play a large role in the shaping of Thundera, and now the time has come. So I am requesting your presence at the palace this evening to hear your thoughts on better preparing Thundera for the future. This matter is of great urgency, the fate of your life, as well as countless others, may depend on it.**

**Your Humble King,**

**Claudus**

**P.S. Please arrive at the palace at sundown.**

After reading it the first time, the apple almost fell to the floor when her jaw went slack. Reading the letter two more times, Ariel felt like her head was spinning. With a mind full of questions, she quickly folds the paper and brings her paw up to hold the apple as she fully bites off a chunk of the fruit.

_What does the King need me for? Why does my opinion suddenly matter?_

Yet even in her mind boggled state, Ariel was still able to hear the footfalls of another cat approaching from behind her. She felt her whole body tense when a warm breath fanned over her shoulder.

"Whatchya got there sis?" her brother yawned as he leaned his chin on her shoulder to peer over and read her letter. _What is it with everyone getting in my personal space this morning?_ Ariel huffed as she shook her brother off and stuffed the letter into her pants pocket.

"Nothing you need to be worried about Gurr," she quipped back sassily. Turning to face her brother completely, Ariel raises her eyebrow at her brother with his slumped posture and bloodshot eyes. "Isn't it a little late for you to be up? You usually wake up early even after a night of celebrating. Or was your spy mission too exhausting?" She tears off another bit of her fruit as she stares her brother down, hoping to see some look of guilt cross his face.

Gurr shrugs his shoulders as he rubs the sleep out of eyes and looks down at his sister. "My inner alarm clock woke me up, so now I'm going to take some sleep syrup. I at least want to get eight hours of sleep before going on duty at the wall." A wide grin makes its way across his face. "Pray twin sister, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour? Are you, perchance, going to meet with a certain panther? My Ari, might not want to get too attached, someone might think you like this one."

The acquisition causes the lioness to nearly choke on the bit of fruit in her throat. Narrowing her eyes, Ariel fixed a dark glare on her twin brother before releasing a guttural growl in warning. "Be careful, _twin brother_. Your next words may be your last."

Her brother just waved her off with a goofy smile before turning around and heading down the hall. Ariel watched her brother stretch his arms over his head as he made his way down the hall to the kitchen.

As soon as he turned the corner into the kitchen, the lioness spun around and opened the door and quietly closed it behind her. When Ariel heard the latch click into place, she pushes off the door and makes her way toward the arena.

* * *

Her apple only lasted two blocks before she tossed the stem into a passing trashbin. After throwing it away, she noticed that morning light was slowly creeping into the vacant streets since the sun was just beginning to peek over Thundera's walls. The walk to the arena was short since no cats were piling the streets with their shops or dancing. Ariel knew she was going to end up arriving earlier than Leopold, so she stood leaning against one of the arena's many columns.

She had been standing at the entrance alone for twenty minutes fiddling with the end of her braid in boredom before she realized she still had a puzzle in her pocket. Sighing in mock defeat, Ariel reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled up letter. The lioness gently flattened the paper and stared down at the letter, and began to ponder the King's meaning.

_When did I meet the King? He says he saw me helping the orphans in the slums when I was a cub, but that could have been at countless different times._ Ariel's eyebrows knitted together as she began to think long and hard about ever seeing the rather large lion in the slums. Coming up with no recollection of the King, the lioness sighs in aggravation. Then Ariel began to get lost in thought about the possible discussion the King could have to speak with her about.

_Could it be about bettering the living quality in the slums? The unfair and unequal hierarchy system within Thundera's walls? Or will it be about the rights that she-cats should have in the kingdom?_

Just thinking about all the things wrong with Thundera had Ariel's heart churning and her blood boiling. Wanting to no longer think about the flaws of the Thunderian society, she roughly folds the letter and shoves it back into her pocket. She breathes deeply multiple times to calm herself. The lioness tries to remind herself that things are not going to always be this way.

_As soon as I make it into the guard, things will get easier. Life will get easier. _Ariel looks to the sky and stares at the pink and orange clouds that float overhead as if they hold the answers to her unspoken questions. As if they can save her and float her away, where problems don't exist.

The sun rises higher into the sky, and the lioness can't help but bask in its rays of light. She wordlessly stares to the sky for many moments until she felt a slight pain in her neck from holding the position for too long. And as she brings her head down and rubs the back of her achy neck, Ariel notices a dark figure not far away.

The cat walking towards her was very easy to recognize since he was still wearing the clothes he had worn the night before, along with his black mane that swayed with each step he took. As Leopold got closer, Ariel caught sight of a large brown bag slung over his shoulder. Not thinking much of it, the lioness smiled widely at him and waved. Even having to use both hands to carry the slung bag, the panther raised one hand and waved back to her.

Once he was at the entrance, Ariel without instruction or signal stepped away from the column, grabbed the bag, and took the weight off her friend's shoulders. With one paw she maneuvers her braid over one shoulder and throws the bag over the opposite one. The panther tried to take the bag back, but she was quick to push him away and walk ahead of him into the arena. He shook his head at her before jogging to catch up to her. They trek together through the entrance tunnel into the arena.

"Good morning," she said chirpily. Ariel looked at the cat walking beside her and noticed his slumped shoulders and bloodshot eyes. It seems that the panther was not an early riser, especially after parties.

"Good morning," Leopold yawned. He turned to her and bowed slightly, but he immediately regretted his actions. Not watching where he was going, he nearly tripped and faceplanted into the dirt.

"Get any sleep last night?" she teased as he tried to correct his misstep.

Leopold turns and gives her a harsh look before pushing her playfully. A giggle escapes her as she stumbles with the slightly heavy load on her shoulder. With her free hand, Ariel shoves him right back. The panther sighs at her childishness before stopping. The lioness was still giggling when she stopped too. Together, they stood at the edge of the pool of water in the center of the arena.

The panther stood for a quiet moment before rubbing his face and saying, "It's too early for this."

His comment made Ariel stop giggling and begin to feel slightly guilty. She didn't want to force him to be here if he didn't want to be, it was a total spur of the moment request. Her mouth opens to tell him that maybe they should come back later when he's well-rested, but he continues to speak.

"I am not ready to get my butt kicked this early in the morning."

She's taken by surprise. This male, who she had seen take down a well trained and capable member of the guard, was insinuating that she was going win against him.

_That's a first._

Leopold ignored her surprised look and instead took the task of reaching and taking the bag from her. When the bag slipped from her hand, Leopold carefully brought it closer to himself before dropping it to the ground. The bag fell with a metal clang.

At the sound of metal, Ariel's ears perk, her focus no longer on Leopold's words, but on the large brown bag.

"I didn't know if you had any," he tries to explain, "so I decided to bring a few spare pieces of armor from the barracks. It's not much but they should add some protection and cushion during our training." The panther kneels and begins to untie the string that held the bag closed.

The curiosity of what type of armor lies inside the bag had the lioness standing in anticipation, ready to receive whatever is given. Leopold reaches with both paws and rummages through the bag before pulling out and setting aside a few pieces of metal. As he reties the opening, Ariel walks toward the small pile of armor before kneeling forward and picking up the piece that lied on top.

It was a small silver breastplate, she observed, and it would cover her chest and her upper ribs but nothing else. The lioness shrugged before turning it over and unbuckling the back so she fit it around her slender frame. After she tightens it to where it feels snug yet comfortable, Ariel reaches down and begins to put on the shin guards and left shoulder pad. When finished strapping herself with the armor, she turns to Leopold with her hands on her hip and a smirk on her face. The panther, still standing by the bag not too far from her, raises his head at hearing the metal cling with her sudden movement.

"You ready?" she asked.

Leopold smiles at her enthusiasm and nods.

"Ready when you are," he challenges lightly as he dives into the pool and makes his way toward the base of the branches. Just as Ariel braces her legs and gets ready to jump after him, she pauses. She quickly turns to the bag as she fishes the royal letter from her pocket. The opening was still wide enough for her to slip the piece of paper in, to protect it from the elements.

_Don't want to get that wet._

After securing the paper inside the bag, the lioness bounds towards the water and jumps in. Resurfacing, Ariel makes powerful strokes to push herself closer to the center of the pool. The panther stood at the small island with his arms crossed as Ariel dragged herself out of the water. When she stood fully upright, she noticed that the water made her clothes feel heavier and tighter. Annoyed, she shakes herself slightly but the water clings to her fur, so that didn't help very much. The pendant around her neck chimes as it swings against the chains around her neck.

"Whose brilliant idea was it to have a lake at the base of the arena?" she seethes while she wrings out her braid as best she could to alleviate the accumulated weight of the water.

Leopold laughs at her misfortune but quickly tries to cover it with a cough at the death glare she shoots at him. If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under.

"Guess the designer never took into account a warrior she-cat with long hair would ever participate in the festivities," he replied smugly.

Ariel released her braid but kept her eyes trained on the panther before responding harshly, "Hey, I don't need any smart Alec comments right now. As far as I am concerned, this is a judgment-free zone. I already get enough crap from my family about being interested in war tactics instead of proper etiquette. The last thing I need is to be told by a male warrior that my sex makes me unfit for fighting."

Her new friend gives her a puzzled look at her sudden defensive stance, but quickly got the message to change the subject.

"Well let's start stretching," Leopold instructed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck. The tension between them melted at his suggestion, and Ariel was thankful for the new distraction.

Together they sat on the ground across from each other in a straddle and began reaching for their toes on either leg. The lioness shifted her weight and was able to properly stretch on both legs and touch the tip of her nose to her knee. When she reaches forward, she was able to completely lay her breastplate on the ground.

Shifting from her position to sitting upright, Ariel begins twisting her body until she felt the satisfying pops going up her spine. She sighs in pleasure after feeling the stiffness in her back dissipate with each pop. Once done, she reaches her arm across her body and adds pressure onto her elbow with her opposite arm to stretch her shoulder muscle. She looks up and makes eye contact with Leopold, who sat with his mouth agape.

"I-I don't think the body is supposed to bend that way," he mumbles quietly. The lioness chuckled at his surprised look.

"Well, some cats bodies are just built and made to do things differently than others," Ariel stated wistfully.

"Hmm. By the way, I don't think I have ever seen you before yesterday. I thought I had already met every lion in the kingdom, but I never met you," Leopold offhandedly mentions. "Did you recently move here?" The lioness sat quietly trying to form the words to best explain her upbringing.

"Actually," she began, "I was not originally born here. My mother is from the Kalahari clan, and they had certain traditions that called for her giving birth in her home village. From the moment I was born up until I was four years young, my home was a small village at the base of mountains to the east of Thundera. We still visit every summer to see my mother's family, but never for too long."

"Well if it was considered your home, why did you move?" He questions as he began rolling his wrists.

Because of my mother's inability to let things go, she wants to say but she can't put all the blame on her mother.

"It's honestly a very stupid reason," Ariel sighs dejectedly. "My mother was the eldest child of the chieftain, so she was supposed to take the mantle. When she was my age, my mother was sent to Thundera to become one of Jaga's pupil's to train to be a healer. Unfortunately, she didn't meet the qualifications. Then she met my father, who was a lieutenant in the royal guard, fell in love and got married. She dragged him back to the village and planned to live most of their married life in the dry mountains with her. But when she came back with no knowledge of healing or any material connections, grandfather was very disappointed in her. As punishment for her 'selfish' actions, she was stripped of her claim to the chieftain title, and my grandfather continued to hold power."

"For four years, my mother and my grandmother tried to persuade my grandfather to change his mind, but he was stubborn and patient. My mother wasn't. In her eyes, if she wasn't going to be the chieftain, there was no point in staying. It was stubbornness and pride that drove us away from the village to seek a home in Thundera."

"Did your father not want to stay?" he asked.

Ariel shakes her head sadly. "Papa wasn't really acclimated to the harsh dry mountain weather, he's Krugeri so he's used to more humid and rainy weather. Plus he wasn't able to put his special military skills to use since he didn't hold any official position. While here in Thundera, he's one of the admirals so his opinion is highly regarded and respected."

"Okay," Leopold nods sympathetically. "That explains how you came to live here, but what made you want to be apart of the royal guard? Is it because of your father?"

"Heavens no," She exclaimed. "Nothing I do is for my parents. I make my choices based on what I want my own future to be, not on what someone wants for me. The reason I am becoming a royal guard is so I can become a chieftain."

"Hold on," the panther sighs as he combs his fingers through his mane, "I'm confused I thought you sai-"

"Well, my grandfather finally forgave my mother after six years of estrangement," she interrupted him. "But my mother no longer wanted to be a chieftain, so he offered his title to the rest of his offspring; however, none of my aunts or uncles wanted it since most of them had moved away to join their spouses in Thundera. Gurr and I are the oldest out of all the grandchildren, so it was decided that the mantle fell to us. I knew at the tender age of ten that I wanted to be the head of the family, and if I had to, I was willing to fight my brother for it. Lucky for me, Gurr isn't really one to take on responsibility, so he forfeited the mantle to me without much thought. So it was decided that I was to become the next chieftain. But there is one requirement: I have to earn the title of Captain in the royal guard. And don't ask me why. My grandfather just wanted me to have basic military training and leadership basics."

"Well, why didn't you join the guard earlier?"

"I was in a proprietary school when my brother began his warrior training under my father, so I fell behind. My mother's brilliant idea. She thought if she sent me to learn to become a lady, I would forget about succeeding a chieftain, but she was dead wrong. Being in the confined space with thirty other she-cats who all just wanted to marry rich cats drove me insane. So once I graduated, I began practicing close combat with Gurr and Papa, much to her disappointment. The last thing I want to do is become a trophy wife like my mother."

"So do you blame your mother?" he asked quizzically.

Ariel pauses for a moment before answering, "She wasn't completely at fault, but she wasn't innocent either. My grandfather is also to blame but really, I blame my family's ability to hold grudges for long periods. And their flaw of never taking other cats feelings into account. My mother loves me, I know that, but sometimes it can be a little overbearing and more demanding. She doesn't care that it's been my childhood dream to become the chieftain."

"Huh," the panther breathes exasperatedly. "Well, that's a load of information to process."

A laugh escapes from the lioness before she can stop it.

_You have no idea._

"Why don't we begin?" Ariel states. Leopold nods quietly before standing up and extending his paw. A smile crosses her face as she grabs his outstretched paw and pulls herself up.

"Okay, so the trick is to always anticipate your opponent's moves before they even move," Leopold explained. "For this first round, try not to dwell too much on your movements and try to observe your opponent. I won't make it easy for you, but I'll try not to be too unpredictable."

With a nod, Ariel steps forward to the main branch and crouches down. She places her feet braced underneath her to help project herself forward when they begin. Placing both her hands on the wooden branch, she can't help but look up and admire the branch with its many scrapes and holes from the claws of past participants. With her body crouched down ready to spring at any moment, the lioness can't help but feel the spike of adrenaline pump through her blood.

She takes a deep breath to calm her nerves, but it's useless. A crazed grin sneaks onto her lips. The lioness turns her head to Leopold and together they share a look that is equally understood by the other.

_**Bring. It.**_

"GO!" Leopold yells without warning. The panther pushes forward, jabbing his front claws into the branch to shove himself up the branch. A growl is emitted from the surprised lioness as she too drives herself up the branch. Her claws pierce the wood easily and quickly as she bounds to catch up with the veteran. Ariel watches him as he climbs ahead of her, and as she comes close to catching up, she remembers his trick from the night before.

Leopold waited for Jack to catch up to him before striking and forcing the jaguar to slow down or nearly fall. She smirks as she comes closer to the unsuspecting panther. And just as she had predicted, the panther side-eyed her and kicked out the leg closest to her. Acting on instinct, Ariel jumped form their current branch to the one beside it that stretched horizontally. She gave Leopold a cold smirk before running along the branch and climbing up.

The panther paused slightly shocked by Ariel's method to avoid his attack, before continuing up the branch. With the proper paw and foot placement, Ariel was able to maneuver herself quickly up the slender branch that now grew close to the main branch that Leopold climbed. Pushing herself harder, the lioness finally began to lead ahead of her trainer. For a brief moment, all Ariel could see was the bell, but she suddenly felt a vibration on the branch she was climbing. And with a glance over her shoulder, she saw the source of the vibration.

Leopold had jumped on her branch and was gaining on her.

_Oh, whiskers!_

Startled by the panther's sudden movement, Ariel faced forward and looked for another branch to possibly jump to, but none were close enough without her risking her life or the match. She looked back again to find the panther close behind her, if he simply reached out he could possibly grab one of her toes. Coming to the conclusion that she had no other option, the lioness pushed to the left and began free falling towards a branch. She was so close to reaching the parallel branch but gravity began working on the midair lioness. Wrenching her arms forward, she tries to sink her claws deep into the wood to stop her from falling. With the power of her jump and gravity not on her side, Ariel's claws scratch deep into the wood before her momentum finally stops. And when it does, she wishes she hadn't jumped. She felt as if her shoulder was about come out of its socket. Moving her shoulders up and down, she tries to get them to relax a little bit before climbing again.

Biting the inside of her cheek in pain, Ariel begins to climb and catch up to Leopold. The panther now has a ten-yard lead on her, and even though most cats would have given up, she doesn't. She pushes herself harder, so hard that her calves begin to burn from overexertion. _The soreness will be worth it, _ she thought as she began to gain some distance and now climbed close to where Leopold would if he was on her branch. With their branches grew directly next to each other, Ariel noticed that she could jump between the branches easily.

Looking up, she and noticed that they were coming close to the top. She knew that couldn't outfight her opponent, he had proved his strength the night prior by easily picking her up and not letting her break free from his hold. She needed to outsmart him.

The anxious lioness grits her teeth as she decides to take a risk and jumps onto the panther's branch and climbs on the right side of him. Jabbing her claws into the branch, Ariel tries to play cool and brace herself for the oncoming hit. Not long after racing beside him, she felt a balled fist make contact with her left side. The lioness tenses in pain and bites her tongue to contain her screams of pain. The coppery taste of blood fills her mouth. She loses her grip on the branch for a second, and she sees Leopold taking the opportunity to try and leap farther ahead.

_All according to plan_.

During her second of falling, the lioness reaches out with her left paw and seizes Leopold's ankle. The sudden added weight startles the panther as he grapples for a good grip on the branch to balance himself. He attempts to kick out of her hold, but he's reacted too late. Ariel's claws are already burrowed in his flesh.

Jabbing her feet into the branch, the lioness steadies herself before taking her other paw and wrapping it around her opponent's upper calf. With a mighty tug, she's able to disturb the panther's balance enough that his claws detach from the dried wood and he began to tip backward.

The sudden realization that he was falling didn't hit Leopold until he felt Ariel's grasp loosen. As the panther fell, he watched as the bell above him grew smaller with his opponent climbing closer towards it. Smirking down at Leopold, the lioness ascends higher up the branch until she reaches the top.

Once at the top, she bends over and puts her paws on her knees.

Her lungs are screaming for air, her calf muscles burn, her shoulders feel like they might fall off, and her side feels as if she has just been rammed by a Thunderian mount. And yet somehow, the crazed grin she had before reappears on her face.

The grin remains on her face as she stands again and runs toward the bell. Jumping, the lioness extends her foot and lands a solid kick on the metal chime. With every ring of the bell, Ariel can feel her heartbeat finally slowing down and the adrenaline leaving her system. Taking a deep breath, she steps away from the bell and takes a seat, waiting for her opponent to reach her.

The challenge was fast-paced, her opponent even more so. And now with this training, she can say that she feels prepared for try-outs.

_Not as easy as I first thought, but definitely fun. _She licks her lips in satisfaction and tastes the blood from her self-inflicted wound. _And painful._

It was several minutes before Leopold finally made his appearance at the top.

"Are-Are you sure you've never done this before?" he asked out of breath.

"Uh, yeah," Ariel answered sassily. "No one really wanted to ever practice with me or challenge me so I never got the chance to be here."

The panther bent forward and braced himself against his knees as she had several moments ago. He took a few more deep breaths before responding. "Well, I must say that you are a natural. You were able to read my movements and act accordingly. It took me years to figure out how to anticipate my opponent's actions, but you, you did it without any type of training. You're a born fighter."

Being under his intense gaze and compliments, Ariel couldn't help but feel her cheeks flush. She avoids his eyes and looks to the sky above her.

"Question is," she sighs, "am I good enough to join the royal guard."

"I think the royal guard would be lucky to have you," Leopold encourages. The lioness looks to her friend and gives a gentle smile before propping herself up.

"So," Ariel breathes. "Ready for another round?"

Leopold visibly deflates and sinks to his knee's in defeat.

"Are you on an energy potion or something?"

Ariel's laugh echoes through the arena as she begins climbing down the branches to start the challenge again. _From the beginning._

* * *

It was high noon when both cats decided to finally call it. After it was tallied that Ariel was the winner, with the best three out of five, they sat the edge of the pool on the island and quietly watched the clouds being blown by the wind overhead.

As she lies on the ground, Ariel tenderly probes her side that is still sore from Leopold's earlier punch. And now she had a busted lip from being roughly pushed into a branch and a tender back from one of his strong kicks from the second round. But she got back at him in the final round with a knee to his stomach and a headbutt to his nose. Her head hurt like hell afterward, but the sensation of victory was a great reward.

"You did good today," Leopold complimented suddenly, grabbing her attention. "You could do better at hand to hand combat but I think your aerial fighting style is pretty much perfect. I'm not a very good instructor, but a friend of mine would definitely be of some help to you. Pumyra is probably the only female warrior I've ever seen that could beat a group of well-trained officers, with her bare paws." Ariel couldn't help but notice the soft tone of that developed in the panther's voice when he mentioned his friend.

"Pumyra, hmm," the lioness teased as she sat up to look down at her friend. "Is she your girlfriend?" The look of astonishment that crossed his face when he looked up at her was all the answer she needed. A wave of relief came over her when she realized that she wouldn't have to worry about him actually courting her. _Thank the Omens_.

"N-No! It's nothing like that," he stutters when he bolts to sit upright as well. "I just really admire her. She's strong, resilient, passionate, kind, and well respected. She never shrinks at the sight of opposition and always tries to overcome any obstacles that are put in front of her. Not mention she's a phenomenal healer while I'm just a foot soldier."

_He says no, but his gentle voice and the warm look in his eye says differently._

"Alright, alright, I believe you," the lioness chuckles as she brushes her fingers through her hair.

The embarrassed look that he gave her, told her that her comment wasn't well-received or believed. "Am I really that transparent?" Leopold questions. "I thought maybe I could hide my feelings better but if you, someone I have only met last night, can already read me like an open book how am I supposed to hide them from her, the cat that I have loved since I was a teen." He lifts his paws to his face to cover his eyes.

"Then don't try to hide your feelings," Ariel advises. "Just tell her how you feel. At least you will know that you were being honest with her and yourself. If it's truly meant to be, then it will happen. Always have faith that things will work out, in the end, Leopold, or else you'll always dwell on the worst-case scenario instead of the best."

Leopold looks up hesitantly but giving her a nod in agreement. Ariel smiles at his embarrassed face before laying back once again to look up at the sky.

"But if I confess to Pumyra, you have to confess to Prince Lion-O," Leopold bargains.

And for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, the panther has Ariel momentarily coking on her own spit. She propped herself onto her elbows, stuttering, "What do yo-"

"Sybil can't really seem to keep her mouth shut when she has mead in her cup," he laments.

Ariel groans in aggravation and begins to fiddle with her pendant in annoyance.

_I haven't seen Sybil at all today and I already want to fight with her._

"That's not happening Leo," She sighs. "I have never even been in the same room as the prince, let alone had a one on one conversation with him. A one-sided crush on someone I don't even talk to is different from having a crush on someone that you actually know."

"Yeah, but at least you'll know that you are being honest with yourself," the panther imitated poorly.

Ariel paused her fiddling and turned slightly to punch her friend's shoulder playfully before muttering a whatever.

"Anyway, you can keep that armor if you want," Leopold points out. "It belongs to a friend of mine who outgrew it. I know he won't be using it anytime soon so you might as well take it and put it to some use."

"Thank you," she responds sincerely. "Ma won't let me get fitted for it and my father tends to take my mother's side of things that greatly upset her." With a hand raised to her breastplate, the lioness absentmindedly traces its intricately engraved designs. "Well, since we're done here, want to come with me to lunch and hangout around the slums?"

"You hang out by the slums?" Leopold questions. "Why?"

"I volunteer at the homeless shelters and orphanages, philanthropy work is one of my hobbies. Also, there's this old dog that runs this shop full of technology. Ancient tech has always fascinated me, so I try to make time to go check out what he has every few days." Ariel explains while getting to her feet.

"Wow," the panther breathes, "Never met a lion interested in helping others. Usually, they keep to themselves and within their pride."

"I know," she jokes, "I'm of a dying breed. Nice cats are very rare to come by in this city."

Leopold raises himself beside her, and together they step into the water to swim towards the exit. Once on the mainland, Ariel shakes herself then makes her way to the armor bag to take her letter back. She grabs it with her slightly damp fingers and carries it gently as she walks backwards to the exit as she watches her friend scramble out of the water.

"I'll just leave this here," he proclaims as he walks past the bag. "A few buddies of mine wanted to go a few rounds later today, so there's no point taking it with me when I'll be right back."

Ariel nods her head in agreement before turning and continuing her walk. Leopold walked briskly beside her as they made their way out of the arena.

They walked languidly across Thundera, with Ariel's specific directions to avoid town square and the mountain of jewel shards. With a stop at a small bakery for a chunk of bread with a slice of cheese, the two cats were satisfied and content until they hit the slums.

In their warrior garb, the two cats obviously didn't blend in very well. Every cat that dwelled there gave them an evil look. Leopold seemed slightly nervous, thinking that they could be jumped at any given moment. But Ariel didn't pay them any mind. She grew confident under their glares and walked on, deeper into the more sinister part of Thundera. They got bumped into a lot by many pickpocketing kids, but once they recognized the lioness, they quit fooling around and let them pass with no problem.

Many of the small children waved at her and smiled, which caught Leopold's eye.

"How often are you down here?" he asked.

"Oh, you know," Ariel muttered, "three times a week? Maybe four?"

"Why would a lioness, of a good pedigree and family, spend her free time here? I understand you like to volunteer but how did you even get down here in the first place."

The lioness was quiet for a moment, still walking quickly and expertly through the streets but not answering his question. For a moment, Leopold believes that he had offended her, so he quickly apologized for his nosy question. But the lioness slowly shakes her head before speaking solemnly.

"Back in the village, everyone had a place to sleep and a table with food to fill their bellies. There was no fear of being kicked out of their home or no food money. Everyone had the same opportunities for jobs, food, and education. Yet here, it's not. Thundera, unlike my village, has poverty. I never quite understood what poverty was until I was twelve, but at the age of five, I took food from my family kitchen and went around town feeding the hungry. My papa used to take me down here to cook and play at orphanages, but my mother somehow convinced him to stop. So I wasn't able to help out as much when I was growing up, but since I'm able to protect myself, I come more often."

The walk was quiet after that, Leopold fearing he had angered his friend when he was just genuinely curious, but Ariel remained quiet out of fear. Fear of being judged by her newfound friend and ally.

_What if he thinks I'm weird for being so nice? What was I thinking of inviting him here! He probably doesn't even care about what going on down here, he only said yes to be nice. Ugh, why am I such an idiot?_

In the middle of her tantrum, Ariel notices they've finally arrived at Jorma's little store. She stops and points at it from across the alley and signals the panther to follow. The dog's brown shack stood twenty feet tall but looked as if a simple push could bring the whole thing down. In place of a door, a piece of gray cloth hung from the ledge above their heads. Moving the fabric to the side, Ariel steps through the doorway and announces herself.

"Hey, Jorma! It's Ariel! I came to see what new trinkets you got for me! Oh, and I brought a friend so I hope you don't mind!"

She passes through the main hall and makes her way to Jorma's usual desk. And there she found the old labrador, bent over, sleeping on his crossed arms over his desk and tools. A soft smile graces her face as she looks down at the poor and tired canine. Ariel stares down at Jorma's paws that were holding onto some tools.

_He was probably hard at work all night, not even making any time to sleep or take care of himself._

"What is that?!" an excited voice questions loudly behind her. When looking down at the old dog, the lioness had completely forgotten about Leopold. Spinning around, Ariel watches as the panther reaches out to touch the metal and tech hanging and leaning against Jorma's walls. The expression on Leopold's told her that he was not weirded out at all and was instead just as intrigued as she is.

"That's a mechanical arm," Ariel explains, "can either be attached to a robot or used as a prosthetic for an injured animal. Some alleycat requires it to help make their life easier but Jorma isn't done fixing it yet."

"That's amazing," he comments. "Truly amazing."

"I know right? And imagine what else the technology could help us with. Imagine faster transportation than by mount or wagon. Or ways that can help cats on the farms communicate with the cats in the city. I mean the possibilities are endless!"

"But we don't exactly have access to such refined circuitry now do we, Ariel," a raspy voice calls after them.

The lioness visibly flinched at the voice that was directly behind her, realizing too late how loud she must have been. She turns again to face the now very awake shop owner.

"Sorry Jorma," she apologizes. "I didn't mean to wake you. I just get so excited when I talk about technology, I can't contain myself."

The dog chuckles at the lioness deflated form before speaking. "No worries. I was just resting my eyes since I almost got no sleep with all the drunken idiots that came around the shop. And now that you're here, I have a special gift for you, more of a request but you may perceive however you want." The labrador walks past the lioness and shuffles toward Leopold without another word.

Looking toward the floor, Jorma bends onto his knees and starts shuffling through the piles of rusty metal plates and poles. Ariel looks up to Leopold, who looks to be just as confused as she is. It took the shop keeper another minute before he stood back up with a small box in hand. Raising himself slowly, the dog turned toward the lioness and extends the package out to her.

_Is today give Ariel a gift day? First, it was the letter from the King, then it was the armor from Leopold, and now it's Jorma giving me something._

With gentle paws, Ariel lifts the rectangular box closer to her face to examine it. The box had no clear opening or keyhole on any of its sides.

"What is it?" she asks curiously.

"It's a puzzle box. Used to store treasure artifacts or secret messages. Found it this morning beside the slab of rock in the town square, and try as I might, I can't seem to open it. You are a bright young cat so I thought maybe you could open it for me, I don't really care much for the box itself or its contents, but I just want to know how to open the damn thing."

"Hm," the panther groaned. "Weird."

Ariel glares at Leopold before turning to Jorma and agreeing to help him figure out how to open the puzzle box.

"Just wanted to come by and see how you're doing Jorma," she explained. "And show your shop to my friend, Leopold."

"Well, I am glad you came, Heavens knows how long I spend my time alone in this shack surrounded by rubble, instead of interacting with other animals," the shop keeper jokes.

Together, the three animals head outside of the building and stand in the street. The old labrador firmly shakes Leopold's paw before turning to Ariel and giving her a side hug. Squeezing Jorma's shoulder as a final good-bye, the lioness stepped back and headed back towards Thunder's paved streets.

Leopold walks beside her as best he can without running into the civilians. The lioness didn't notice his struggle to keep up with her, rather her mind was transfixed on the metal box in her right paw. She couldn't wait to get it back home to figure it out.

"Are you just anxious to get out of the slums," the panther whispers into her ear. "Or are you just excited to start playing with your little puzzle box."

For a split moment, Ariel stops and gives the panther an annoyed look before looking forward again to continue walking.

"Puzzles keep my mind sharp after a day of training," she huffs as she quickens her steps. "Fighting can only get a cat so far before they have to start thinking about their next move."

"Understandable," Leopold replies. "Well, the guys are probably already at the arena, so I'm going to go ahead and head that way. You alright going home on your own?"

"Of course," she stated in a bored tone. "So are you going to try and get Pumyra to come to training tomorrow?"

"I'll try," he responded sheepishly, "if she doesn't feel awkward about hanging around me after I confess."

_Oh no. Is he seriously taking my advice? I've never experienced romance in any way, shape, or form so maybe listening to me isn't exactly the best idea._

Stunned by the panther's bold declaration, Ariel turns to advise her friend to not follow her instructions, but it's too late. Leopold had weaved himself in between the hordes of cats and was nearly halfway out of the dark part of town.

The lioness shook her head and smiled at her friends newly found courage to confess to the love of his life.

_Hopefully, this courage will play in his favor._

The walk back to her home was quiet and quick. Ariel passed by many cats that she knew, greeted them but didn't stay long enough to hold a conversation with them. Once she was able to see her house, she felt her body start to tighten and hum in anticipation. She didn't want her mother to see her new armor or the box in her paw, she knew her mother would have an absolute fit about her wanting to train and hang around the slums instead of acting like a proper female cat in Thunderian society. Ariel swung the front door open and shut it quietly behind her before sprinting to her room.

Nearly colliding into one wall, Ariel holds the box close to her body and prays to the Omen's that no one sees her. Finally reaching her room, she shuts the door and braces her free paw against it as she tries to catch her breath.

_Did anyone see me?_

Once she felt her breathing even out, the lioness pressed her ear against the door to listen if anyone was walking in the hall. She listened intently for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion that the coast was clear. Her once tense shoulders went slack when she realized she was safe.

Walking towards her bed, she placed the box on her nightstand before digging into her pocket and laying the letter beside it. Sitting on her bed, Ariel realizes that her body is much sorer than she first thought and her mind was a little fuzzy and slow after the morning training. _Probably from knocking my head into Leopold's nose._

Content with her progress in the day, Ariel decides to work on the box the next day and take a nap before getting ready to have a meeting with the King at the palace. Pulling her braid, she removes the hair-tie and unravels her it with her fingers until her hair falls in dark waves down her back. With a big sigh, she stretches her arms above her head and leans backward to fully lay on her back. And just as she pulls up the cover and wraps an arm around a pillow, a sound came from her door.

**Knock knock knock.**

Groaning in irritation and tiredness, the lioness stands back up and reaches for her door.

"Honey are you there?" her mother's voice rang.

With her paw on the doorknob, Ariel freezes when she realizes that she is still wearing her armor.

"Be there in a second ma," she responds loudly. Shuffling backward, the lioness struggles to unbuckle the breastplate. It came off with a quiet cling which she hoped her mother didn't hear. She shoves the metal under her bed before unstrapping the shoulder-pad and the shinguards. Once all the metal is fully hidden, she reaches for the box and letter and slips them under a pillow, out of plain sight.

Breathing deeply to calm herself, the lioness reaches for the door again and opens it to reveal her waiting mother. Maura stands before her daughter with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. _Uh oh._

"Nice to see that you actually know how to open a door," her mother sneers. "Come downstairs, we're having a family discussion."

Her grip tightening on the doorknob Ariel asks, "What's the discussion about?"

Maura sighs before responding, "You."

Ariel swallows before stepping out from her room and following her mother to the living area. The lionesses walk in silence down the hall, towards the living area where Tau and Gurr sat. The two lions had obviously been sleeping before being summoned since they both were still dressed in their nightshirts. At the entrance of Maura and Ariel, the two lions stood. With confusion written all over her face, the young lioness approaches her father first.

"Papa, what's going on?"

"I thought you could tell us," Tau yawned.

"It's about Ariel," her mother proclaims behind her. Ariel turns to face her mother once again. "And the letter she received this morning."

The lioness' eyes widened at her mother's declaration, while her brother and father gasped.

_How did she know about that?_

"Have you had someone spying me at all hours of the day or is just your hobby?" Ariel asked skeptically.

"It may surprise that I actually came across this knowledge from Mrs. Levy who, on her morning walk, noticed the messenger at our door talking to you," the older lioness revealed as she began picking at her nails in front of her face.

_Why is that everyone is so interested in my business? why can't everyone just whats well off alone?!_

"Now, you are going to tell me what that letter said, Ari. So help me, if the King as having you tried for treason for helping those lizardmen, you have just bought yourself a one-way ticket back to the village!"

"Not that it's any of your business," the lioness seethes, "but the King has requested me to the palace for an audience."

The look on her mother's face expressed to Ariel that that was not what she was expecting. Still angry, she crossed her arms, glared at her mother but held a cocky smirk on her face.

"And why is he asking for you?" Gurr asks skeptically.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "But, apparently, he has something important to discuss with me." Ariel bits her lip, nervous how her family will respond.

The atmosphere in the room turned from hostile to more civil and neutral when Tau came and patted his daughter on the shoulder. Looking wordlessly to her father, she saw a gentle smile and proud blue eyes. "It seems your hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. I always knew there was something special about you Ari. Well, I hope you have a good discussion with the King. Try not to be too intimidated by the guy, he may be royalty but at heart, he is like any other feline."

Her brother, standing off to the side, came up to Ariel's other side and rested his hand on her other shoulder with a wide grin.

"You've always been the dedicated one out of the two us, it's about time some cat became aware of your passionate endeavors!"

"Thanks, Papa! Thanks, Gurr!"

Then the sweet and loving mood surrounding Ariel went sour.

"As much as I wish to congratulate you on being recognized," her mother states regretfully, "My mind is plagued by one question. What could King Claudus possibly have to discuss with you, a black manned lioness?"

Ariel's whole body stiffens at the question. She can physically feel her body shrink under mother's gaze, and all she does in response is tilt her head down to where her eyes are shielded by her hair. In her mind, her mother just asked what could possibly be so important that the Lion King would have to speak with her, an insignificant dark-haired female. And as much as the young lioness feels insulted, she also felt ashamed. And angry. _Everything I do will never be enough for her. In her eyes, I am nothing more than a girl she can marry off to achieve a higher social standing._

_Will anything I do every please her?_

At her lack of outrage, the lioness' father gets upset in her place. Tau stepped towards his wife and put himself between his distraught daughter and oblivious wife. With his jaw set and his eyebrows knit, Tau snarled,

"Maura! Are you serious! Is nothing she does every good enough for you?! I get that you wanted to have a girly daughter, but Ariel is still your daughter who you should love and cherish. And I know you don't want to admit it, but Ariel is exactly like you when you were around her age. She goes after what she wants and doesn't back down from a challenge, just like you did! I remember when there was nothing you'd rather be doing than sparring or hunting beyond the wall, but that all changed when your father rejected you. I realize you might resent your father for his decision but don't take it out on our own daughter."

For a beat, no one moved or said a word. No one even breathed. All Maura could do was switch her gaze between her infuriated husband and her miserable-looking daughter who stood cradled by her obviously angry twin. Seemingly choking on her own guilt, her mother finally broke the silence."Oh honey, I never meant to make you feel unworthy or inferior. I just see too much of myself in you, and I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did."

Slowly, Ariel pushes out of her brothers hold and looks up to her mother. Another thing Ariel had also inherited from her mother was her icy stare because now her eyes held no emotion.

No anger, no sadness, nothing.

"I won't ma," she said in a disinterested tone. "But to be honest, all I have ever felt is inferior. Inferior to you, inferior to Gurr. Ugh! I've always felt like I was the odd one out, you know. You always treated me different. And not in a good way. All you ever did was constantly remind me not to be an embarrassment to the family and that the only thing I'm good for is babymaking. Not exactly the best thing to tell your daughter."

Maura stared wide-eyed at where her daughter stood, surprised at the young lioness's affirmation. And Ariel noticed that her mother's eyes were glued to the spot even as she walked past her, back towards her bedroom. She turned and gave her brother and father a small tight-lipped smile before disappearing down the hall.

Walking down the hall with a stone face, the lioness can't help but start feeling her anger getting the better of her. She grinds her teeth and clenches her fists as she strides to her room. Slamming her door closed and jumping face-first onto her bed, Ariel roars.

She roars in anger.

She roars in pain.

She roars in sadness.

But even after roaring, her body still feels as if she's full of emotion. So she sits up and reaches for her pillows to throw them all across the room. But once she's out of pillows she notices the puzzle box and the King's letter. She takes the metal box, and without hesitation, throws it angrily at the door, leaving a small indent in the wood. In blind anger, the lioness grabs the letter with both paws and prepares to tear it in two. And just as she's about to rip it, the royal seal catches her emerald eyes.

She stares at the red Thundercat wax seal for a moment, her shallow breathing beginning to lengthen and even out. Swallowing thickly, she brings the letter to her chest and holds it tightly. Ariel sits down on her bed and attempts to calm down. Her eyes burned from unshed tears, and her lips quiver as she tries to contain her whimpers and emotional sobs. And then she finally lets them fall.

_Will ma ever not judge me based on my decisions? Will she ever be proud of me?_

With one paw holding the letter close to her erratic heart, she wipes her tears away with the other. Ariel sniffles a few times before she can finally breathe even, and though her eyes are now clear of tears, she can't see through her thick dark hair that covers her face. She pushes it out of the way before using the hair tie to make a low ponytail. The lioness rubs her nose before standing and placing the letter back on her nightstand, then starts moving around her room to pick her pillows back onto her bed. A few books and papers from her bookshelf had fallen, so she had to replace them. Shaking her head at herself she places all her scattered pillows back in order, then turns to the metal box that lays in front of her door. She bends down and picks it up, and notices something strange.

_Did I break it?_

Cautiously, Ariel picked it and stared at the square-shaped side of the rectangular box, that had slid forward and now showed levers inside the box. She blinked multiple times before gingerly touching the side and pushing it back to its original place. The lioness once again stood curious and excited about trying to figure out the box. She pushed it again, found it couldn't slide completely out, only three fourths the way. And it also couldn't slide in the opposite direction or adjacently. Pursing her lips, she moves back to her bed and sits criss-cross and lies the box on her lap. She probes the other sides of the box and finds that none of them move at all, except for the square face on the other side of the box. And it only slid forward as well.

She slides the square as far as it could go and found it to be the same distance as the other square. Putting it on its side, Ariel pushes the other side to its full length and waited for something to happen.

Nothing.

The lioness bites her lip in concentration and begins to think deeply about to figure out the puzzle.

_If it was about sliding the sides, something would have happened. But what there's an order to it? I already opened one side then opened the other, so maybe I should do it the opposite way?_

Ariel tests her hypothesis and closes both slides before sliding the one side then the other. Still nothing. Her shoulders slump in defeat before she reaches forward and closes the box. She fiddles with the sides and even slides each side multiple times to see if there was any reaction. Frustrated, the lioness chews on the inside of her cheek and fiddles with her pendant while staring down at the box in confusion. Then a thought struck her:

_Slide them at the same time._

Without much thought, Ariel places each paw on the corresponding side and began sliding them at the same time.

**Kathunk**

The rectangular side that was facing her popped out.

The lioness throws her arms up and silently cheers to herself for finally solving the puzzle. _I did it!_

She pulls the side out and observes a small compartment in the center, surrounded by the lever and pullies that keep the puzzle intact. In the compartment was a tightly folded piece of parchment. Removing the paper, Ariel unfolds the paper and sees that there is something written in dark ink, but she can't tell what it reads. _It looks like a different language entirely, with long swirls and markings that don't resemble Thunderian. Maybe Papa has something that can translate this._

The lioness cocks her head to the side in wonder before placing the box and paper aside on her bed and scoots to the end of her bed to walk to her door. She looks out the hall, sees no one's coming and walks towards her father's study on the other side of the house. Seeing that the door is wide open, Ariel pokes her head in and sees that her father is sitting at his desk working on official documents.

"Hey Papa, do you still have that book about all the languages of Third Earth?" she asks softly.

"I think so honey, it should be on the second shelf." Ariel steps into the room and walks toward the bookshelf to his right. She traces her finger across the spines until she came upon the _Third Earth Native Language Guide_. "But honey, why on Third Earth do you need that book?"

"No reason," the lioness tries to shrug as she takes the book out of its designated spot. "Thanks for the book, Papa!" And runs out of her father's study and back to her bedroom. As she makes her way, Ariel hears her father yelling out a brief 'you're welcome' behind her.

She makes it to her room and doesn't bother closing her door as she grabs a pencil from her nightstand and sits on her bed with the book in her lap. With gentle fingers, Ariel flips through the pages and tries to find the writing that looks similar to the type on the slip of paper. Going through all fish and primate languages, the lioness nearly gives up hope of finding it before she comes to the language of the snakes and lizards. Ariel audibly gulps as she turns the page and stares in horror at the similar symbols and marking displayed on the slip of paper.

_Slytherian._

Taking the pencil, she turns the paper over and begins to translate each corresponding symbol to appropriate Thunderain letter.

W. E. A. T. T. A. C. K. A. T. D. U. S. K.

We Attack At Dusk.

Oh no. Ariel jumps up and looks out her bedroom window and watches in fear as the sunlight outside is starting to become darker. Breathing in through her stuffy nose, the lioness tries to calm herself.

_What are the odds that Thundera actually comes under attack? No one has dared to face us in battle since the dark ages, so why start now?_

Still no feeling paranoid, she pulls the armor from underneath her bed and straps everything on. _Just in case. _Taking the slip of paper and the letter she shoves them into her pocket before picking up the box and the book.

With quiet steps, Ariel quickly walks out of her room and back to her father's study. Passing through the threshold, she notices that her father has not moved from his spot. She watches as a surprised look passes over his face when he looks at her clad in armor.

"Here's that book, Papa," she called as she walked back up to the shelf and slid it back into place.

"Oh, done with it already?" Tau inquired. "I thought you would have kept it for a little longer."

"Yeah so . . . Papa, I have a question," the lioness started. "What if Thundera was attacked by an army of lizardmen and they got into the city?"

"Well, I think we would surely stop them at the wall, so they wouldn't ever reach the city."

_We're not invincible though Papa._

"I know, I know, but just hear me out. What if there were lizardmen already in the city? Could we be defeated?"

The old lion scratched his red beard in contemplative concentration before answering, "I would be possible, but cats have always been the superior species so I think we would still win in the end. This is all hypothetical, right? Just make-believe, right?"

"I don't know Papa," she responds solemnly. Placing the box on her father's desk, she digs into her pocket and takes out the Slytherian written note. "Jorma found this box near the boulder of jewels that General Grune brought back. He couldn't figure out how to open it so he asked me to. I was able to figure it out not too long ago, and inside the box was this slip of paper. And I know it may seem ordinary but writing is Slytherian, and when I translated it, it said 'We attack at dusk.'" Looking wearily up at her father, she sees shock and confusion cross his face soon followed by a look of realization and terror. Tau stands from his desk and steps towards his daughter. He lightly pushes her out of the way and grabs a book from the shelf. The lion sat back down and opened the book to a page that had a drawing of cat climbing out of a crate.

"Back in the old days, gifts were distributed to gain access to towns and villages, but when diplomacy didn't work, some violent actions had to be taken. Some crates would hide warrior cats that would come out of hiding after dark, so in the night they could defeat the caught off guard animals," he explained tensely. "You mentioning about lizards already being in the city, and your little note being found by the giant shard, is not a coincidence. Yesterday when your brother was helping push General Grune's gift, he said that it felt lighter than he thought it did. And when they hit a pothole, he was sure it was going to tip over, but its center of gravity had somehow altered. If what he says is true and what you found is correct, the shard may actually be hollow and is holding animals inside."

The sudden recollection of feeling uneasy around the shard last night. How her skin crawled when she stood anywhere near it, and when she thought she saw something behind a jewel when she stared at it long enough.

_It all makes sense._

"But why General Grune?" she asks timidly

"I don't know," Tau responds. "But talking to him last night, he seemed _**different**_. Almost like a completely different person."

Ariel nodded, observing her father's depressed tone when mentioning the sabertooth. "Anyway, let's just hope that this all just a hoax or a well-planned prank. I mean, what could possibly go wrong."

Both lions chuckled for a moment before their ears heard the blaring of a horn. A deep horn that was being blown from Thundera's main wall.

It was the horn that was signaling the approach of an army.

* * *

A/N:

Sorry, it's been so long since I last updated. We're still on Ariel's prologue but we should be meeting the Thundercats in the next chapter!

Big thanks to my amazing reviewers and readers: , **frankannestein**, **Heart of Demons**, **Seeds of Destruction**, and **NevaehMichelle13**! I've been super held up with work but reading your encouraging comments really pushed me to try and finish this chapter. Sorry if there is too much detail or background, I'm trying not to write block text but this info will soon be understood in later chapters! Hope everyone is having a summer, unlike me who is about to go back to school

P.S. I made a few changes in the prologue so be sure to go and read that.


	5. Escaping 'The Fall'

Ariel raced out of her father's office towards the front door, praying to the Omens that her ears were just playing tricks on her. Running down the hall, all she could hear was her pounding heartbeat and nothing else. Barreling towards the door, the lioness shoved it open and stood transfixed as she witnessed other felines standing frozen as they looked towards the wall that protected their city. Tua wasn't far behind her, pushing past her to step out further into the street.

The air was silent for a moment before the horn was blown again, but it felt much more powerful now that Ariel stood outside. She practically felt the humming of the horn not only through the air but also through her body. All of her senses were on high alert, ready to flee or attack at any moment if startled. The fur on the back of her neck stood on end as she stood staring at the wall that was only three or four miles from where she stood.

"Your brother's already left for his shift on the wall," her father choked out. His words caused Ariel's once pounding heart to stop. Her eyes shifted from the ominous wall to her now horrified father.

Seeing her father with a look of fear shook the young lioness more than the horn blaring in the background. Never before had the lioness seen her father display these emotions. Turning her gaze back to the wall, she opened her mouth to speak, but her tongue felt like cotton, and no noise was heard. Ariel gulped audibly, attempting again to form an actual sentence.

"He should be fine Papa," she tries to affirm. "He's one of the best archers in Thundera, besides he's going to be standing alongside General Lynx-O. They should be fine."

Her father doesn't turn to acknowledge her statement, and he doesn't respond vocally but nods his head once. The lioness fidgets with her pendant as she looks over the faces of the other frightened Thunderians. As she swept her vision over all the civilians, Ariel realized there was a face that was missing.

"Where's Ma?" she asks shakily. Even after her huge fight with her mother, at the end of the day, Maura is still her mother and they still love each other. Ariel looked to her father, hoping that he was going to respond that her mother was inside the house taking a nap or something. But his panicked facial expression revealed the truth.

She wasn't home.

"She went to the lynx estate," he confessed, "to get the clothes you left over there last night. She was hoping to do you a favor and give you some space so that you might forgive her."

Complete and utter dread made Ariel's body feel heavy. Sybil's home was not even a few blocks from Town Square, and if what she and her father hypothesized is true, the enemy is closer to her mother than she is. A thought crosses her mind that her mother may already be in danger, and there's nothing she can do to help her. The lioness grits her teeth and shakes her head, trying to push the thought out of her mind.

_No. Not like this. I won't let the last conversation I had with my own mother be an argument._

With renewed fire, Ariel turned to her father before speaking, "I'm going after mother, you try and see if you can catch Gurr. If the enemy is already inside the city, then there's no telling how the battle will go." She spins on her heel and starts jogging towards Sybil's home with her braid swinging behind her.

"Ari!" she hears her father call. Looking over her shoulder, she stops and makes eye contact with her father.

"If you can grab your mother, try and make your way to the mountain pass exit. If Gurr and I aren't there by sun up, make your way to the village."

She nods somberly before resuming her jog.

For a moment, Ariel looks to the slowly darkening sky as the celestial figures overhead transition from day into night. And for the first time in years, Ariel briefly sends a prayer to the Omens _Please let ma be safe and not too far_!

With her heart in her throat, the lioness begins to aimlessly search the streets as other cats pass her to seek refuge. The little light from the sunset was now gone, only the light from the overhead stars lit the sky. And the darkness only seemed to make the chaos of the night worse.

Even with her new armor, Ariel was still able to feel the elbows and shoulder of the cats trying to shove by her. Being of average height and build, she was able to push her way without being hurt. Every few moments she would feel a painful yank from her thick hair getting caught in someone's clothes or grip by accident. But she ignored the throbbing sensation and pushed forward continually running into panicking cats and their cubs.

It was when she got five blocks from Town Square did she have to throw her elbow out to make her path towards the lynx estate. Once she reached the not so crowded street that led to Sybil,'s home Ariel was able to breathe normally.

_But we're not out of the woods yet._

While in the streets, she didn't hear any signs of actual pain or terror, only mild panic; which told her that the enemy was still in hiding in the shard. She walks briskly up to the lynx estate door and knocked three times before putting her paw on the doorknob to let herself in.

Taking her first step in, Ariel felt a wave of emotions all hit at once. Relief, happiness, and anxiety. Her mother was standing and speaking with Levy and Sybil while they tried to pack bags with food and supplies. Sybil was dressed in her training clothes, fresh and clean from the previous day, while the mother both wore long day dress in their prospective house colors. _Hopefully, the long skirts won't obstruct them from running._

"Ma," she whispered quietly. It was the only warning Maura heard before she felt a body clad in armor crash into her side and hug her. "I'm so glad you're safe."

The young lioness felt her mother stiffen at her display of affection, but then relax before patting her on the back soothingly.

"Glad that I'm safe?" Her mother asked confused. "Why of course. It's you and your father that should have been worried about yourselves! Well since you're here you can help us take all these bags with us down to the underground shelter."

Alarmed at Maura's declaration, the young lioness pushes off her mother and shakes head vigorously.

"No no no," Ariel insisted. "We're not going to the shelter! It's too close to Town Square, besides we're leaving through the mountain pass."

"And why would we do that?" Levy asks perplexed.

Ariel switches her gaze from her mother to Levy before responding, "Papa and I have a theory. It may just be a bad feeling, but we think the shard that General Grune brought was actually a package that holds soldiers."

"And why on Third Earth would Grune do something like that?" Sybil asks curtly.

"Because a note was found by the shard, and when translated it says 'we attack at dusk.' Papa said something felt off about the general since he returned. I don't know if we're right, but I rather get the hell out of dodge before we all get hurt. Or worse, Killed."

The lioness's statement shocks the three felines into silence.

"We don't have much time, the sun already set and the attack has probably just begun. I agreed with Papa that if I found you, we'd make our way through the mountain pass, which is on the other side of the city." Ariel rushed forward and grabbed a bag of supplies and throwing it over her shoulder. "I don't know about y'all, but I don't plan on dying today."

The young lioness words seemed the jar the female Thundercats out of their stupor as they reach for their own bag of supplies to sling over their shoulders. She nods her head before turning and walking out the door once again. The three females follow quickly behind her.

With no major light but the stars and few lanterns that were lit, Ariel was able to navigate the group through small alleyways that let them avoid incredibly crowded streets. Until they had to cross the street that led from Town Square to the Main Wall. The lioness paused before entering the street, puzzled.

The street was empty. Not a soul in sight. When she turned her head she was able to make out figures walking around Town Square, but they weren't running for cover. Confused, the lioness stood a moment before she heard an echo of a boom.

Her ears raised slightly listening closely before she turned toward the Wall, where the sound seemingly originated. Then she saw it.

A big dark blur was flying in their direction And it was moving fast.

"What is that?" she heard her mother whisper beside her.

"I don't know," Ariel muttered as she watched it getting closer. "But I have a sick feeling." That's when she noticed there were multiple.

The projectiles flew over their head and they could only look on in shock, for upon the projectiles contact with the ground, it destroyed everything close by with a massive fire.

_What in Thundera's name was that?_

The lioness felt her confidence and drop as she witnessed the destruction of where the shelters were supposed to be. The head of the Laying Lion statue tumbled down, and roaring piles of flames grew, but the shelter wasn't the only victim of the barrage. The female Thundercats could do nothing but spectated the destruction of their fair city as building upon building was blown to smithereens. Ariel gripped her bag tightly in fear and astonishment as she witnessed the fall of Thundera by the hands of the technology she was once so curious about. Looking at her companions, she realized she was not the only one. _We must keep moving, _ she chastised herself and checked that the coast was clear before making her way further into the city. Her mother and Sybil were close to follow, but the young lynx had to reach out to her own mother to get her to start walking again.

_They have technology that far outreaches anything that we could dream of. The Wall will fall for sure, hopefully, Papa and Gurr get out safely, _Ariel thought absently as she fiddled with the dangling pendant around her neck_._

The group quickened their pace, wary of the time they might still have to make it out of the city. Too busy in her own head, thinking of the quickest route to take to get to the pass, Ariel didn't notice the lizardman that stood in an alley, waiting for his prey.

"And just where do you think you cats are going?" a voice hissed from the darkness. Before she could react, Ariel felt a small fingers grab her arm and wrench her backward. Just in time to miss the blast of power that was expelled from the lizard's weapon. It lightly grazed the pauldron on her shoulder and left a harsh scorch mark.

Slightly disoriented and surprised, the lioness could do nothing but back up to try and regain her balance. She looked around her, checking on her group and release a sigh when she saw they were not harmed. Looking back to her attacker she sees that it's only one skinny purple lizard.

_Just one. Good._

He definitely wasn't the brawniest lizard, but he was by no means puny. This body was covered in black straps that held knives and small round containers, covering his face was a skull of a much larger animal, but his slitted orange eyes were very clear to see. _Probably something he killed with that weapon. How did the lizards get such advanced weaponry?_ With blaster pointed straight at them, countless possible outcomes flew through her head. Sizing the lizards build, Ariel quickly realized she could quite easily outrun this lizard, she just had to disarm him to easily pass.

"Where we go is really none of your business, you lowly scum!" Ariel taunts. The lizardman stands straighter at her remark and hisses. The lioness smirks. She feels a paw hold her shoulder but she shrugs it off and shakes her head.

"Did you really think we're going to go quietly?" she continues.

"No," he finally replies. "But I'm glad that you aren't. You prideful cats need to be taught a lesson."

"And you're going to be the one who teaches us?" Sybil huffs from behind her, either realizing Ariel's intentions or voicing her own prideful thoughts. The lizard grits his teeth and raises his weapon.

Carefully aware of the lizard's watchful eye, Ariel took the bag off her shoulder and laid it close to her mother's feet.

"When I say run," she whispers, "You run." And without much else warning, the young lioness yowled and launched herself at the lizard, teeth bared and claws out.

The cold-blooded creature was surprised, and with the little space that separated them, that was all she needed. Using her shinguard, she kicks the raised weapon out of the lizard's hand before tackling him to the ground. And with swift movements, Ariel hauled the purple lizard towards her and aggressively brought her knee into his gut, and successfully knocking the wind out of him. Stepping to the side the strong lioness kicks out on the lizard's knee, forcing to fall onto his stomach. Now with the reptile laying on the ground, stupified, Ariel climbs onto its back and pulls his arms behind him and pushes his shoulders to the floor. She snarled at him and growled as she dug her claws into his arms and pushed with every ounce of her power to keep him pinned to the ground. Hissing in aggravation, the lizard thrashed about, trying to free himself.

"RUN!"

At first, there was no movement, but then out of the corner of her eye, Ariel saw Sybil dragging both older felines past them. She kept pushing on the lizard until she could no longer see their figures, then quickly tried to remove herself and follow them. Releasing the purple reptile from her hold, she clamps her paws together and swings with every ounce of force she could muster onto the side of the lizard's skull. Hoping to herself that she added enough pressure and aimed at the right part of the lizard's temple to knock the animal out. The body went slightly limp under her so Ariel seized her chance to run.

Practically jumping off of him, she makes about two steps forward before she felt a scally hand wrap around her ankle and yank her backward.

With a sick crack, her face met the white concrete. She groaned in pain as she rolled on to her back. But instead of her sight being the dark sky, two slitted orange eyes stared into her emerald ones. With the force of the blow, Ariel had knocked off the lizard's makeshift helmet, so now she was stuck seeing the full scally face of her opponent. The lizardmen glared down at her as a dark chuckle left his toothy mangled mouth.

"Did you really think you could get away?" he chortled from above her. Scrambling to get away, the lioness again tries to move but a hand harshly pushes her head hard into the ground with another crack.

"You lions really don't know when to quit, and now your stubbornness and pride are going to be the death of you!"

The pain was soon overcome by panic when long scaly fingers started coiling tightly around her neck. Ariel gasped, reaching her out and clawing at the claws constricting her airways, but the grip only got tighter. She threw her hands out beating his chest, trying to hurt the lizard and get some air back into her lungs, but it was all for naught. Black dots lined her vision, but the view of a grinning sharp-fanged lizard was haunting.

**_THUNK_**

All of a sudden, the fingers went slack and the body that was towering over her swayed before falling to the side. Inhaling deep breathes of air, Ariel pushes the lizard off of her and looks up. Standing above her now was her mother who held the lizardman's blaster like a club. With an outstretched paw, Maura hoisted her daughter up and patted her daughter's shoulder.

"Nobody lays a hand on my daughter," she said darkly.

Ariel smiled slightly at her mother's attempt at affection. She rubs her sore throat before muttering a quiet 'thank you.' The weapon that the lizardman held had a strap, and with a heavy lift, Maura was able to strap it around herself.

Taking her mother's hand, Ariel begins to walk in the direction that would lead to their escape from the confines of Thundera's Walls. Her steps are wobbly, the back of her head is throbbing, her whole body feels shaky, and her throat feels too sore to speak. But Ariel felt hopeful that after dealing with a single lizardman, that their journey to the mountain pass would be easy.

Wild black hair flew behind her as Ariel ran towards the mountain pass. The ThunderCat pendant hit against her breastplate with every step she took causing a small clink sound. As the lioness' continued down the alley path, the sound of more projectiles landing and exploding echoed in the air.

As they make their way back to Sybil and Levy, the two lionesses make sure to check each adjacent alleyway they pass, to make sure there were no further surprise attacks. They ran carefully but quickly through the street. When they were able to see the entrance of the mountain pass at the end, Ariel felt a little tension leave her body. Then she saw the silhouettes of two felines carrying heavy bags at the end of the street.

And three lizardman.

The lioness stops abruptly, nearly being run over by her mother, but her taut and tense body won't move. She squeezes her mother's paw as she watches the three lizardmen surround their companions and begin confiscating the supply bags from them.

_They are here. Why are they here, only traders and frequent travelers know of this entrance. How could they-_

Then another figure emerged. A large animal, significantly bigger than the lizardman and the two lynxes. It was General Grune dawned in gold battle armor. And when Ariel focused on the red emblem jewel on his chest, which was supposed to hold the Thundercat symbol like her pendant, it had the symbol of interconnected snakes. _Traitor!_

Ariel clenched her teeth as she started walking again, head on towards the villainous sabertooth tiger. Shooting her mother a look, she pointed at the heavy weapon and motioned to the three opposing lizardmen. Maura nodded her head and maneuvered it to her side so she could use it as a battering ram. The young lioness nodded and faced forward, preparing to face one of Thundera's most elite warriors.

She felt her whole body flare-up in protectiveness when she saw the sabertooth step closer to Sybil. And now that she stood closer, Ariel could see the sly grin that Grune sported on his face as he looked down at the young lynx. But what angered more her was the evil look that Grune shot Levy when she attempted to protect her daughter from the sabertooth tiger's leering gaze.

Stopping at the edge where darkness met the light of the overhead lanterns, Ariel turned to make eye contact with her mother and carefully moved herself to hide behind a building corner. With her dark hair and clothing, she was almost invisible. Maura nodded her head with a grim look, but still stepped out in the view of the group ahead.

"You sly son of a warthog," Maura bellowed out as she made quick steps towards the group lizards and cats. "We welcomed you back with open arms and here you are, bringing an army to our doorstep."

The large sabertooth stood to his full height and looked to the older lioness with a jeer. "Well if it isn't the daughter of the old lion tribe chieftain. How's Tua treating you these days?"

"Spare me the idle chatter," the she-cat growled.

"Alright, alright Maura," Grune sighed. "But since you don't want to talk, why don't you just come quietly. You see, I have prior engagements waiting for me at the arena, so I really can't waste my time with you right now." As he spoke, the three lizardmen started coming closer to Maura with their weapons ready and humming with power.

But the older lioness did not flinch, she stood her ground. Once the lizards were within hitting distance, Maura swung the weapon down on the lizard's skulls, quickly incapacitating them.

"You are a bigger fool than I thought if you honestly think I will just go without a fight!" the lioness snarled. "And you forget traitor, I was trained in combat in my early youth so these measly salamanders are nothing to me!"

The insult of being called a fool seemed to strike a chord with Grune. The sabertooth took his mace that was strapped to his belt and stalked towards the she-cat.

"Yes, these lizards are nothing if not pathetic warriors, but I am not. We'll see who is the bigger fool, the one with a weapon she does not know how to use, or a warrior who correctly chose the winning side."

Not far off from the scene, the hidden lioness licked her lips in anticipation as the ex-general kept stepping closer to her hiding place.

Every muscle in Ariel's body was tight and ready to spring, but she stayed still, patiently waiting for the right moment to strike.

Grune swung his pointed weapon at Maura, right and left but the aged lioness successfully evaded every attempt at. Realizing that the lioness was too quick to hit with his heavy weapon, Grune takes a large step backward and braces his mace against his hip. The mace seems to extend itself out and begins to glow a violent shade of green. Then a string of green light shot out of the end, leading a line of destroyed ruble up to Maura's feet. The older lioness was able to dodge the shot of power, but her dress was less fortunate, getting scorched upon contact. Maura growled in aggravation at her newly ruined dress, shooting a fierce glare at the now smirking sabertooth tiger.

But the smirk on his face soon falls as his opponent gets rushes forward, and before he has time to evade or block the attack, the blunt end of the blaster made contact with his side, knocking the wind out of him. Happy with landing a blow against the experience war general, Maura begins taunting the tom to follow after her by lifting her paw and making a 'come here' motion with her finger while wearing a condescending smirk on her lips. With anger and pride clouding his judgment, the tall cat stampedes towards the smaller cat and starts swinging his spiked mace out at the lioness' figure. A sigh of relief left Ariel as she watched the sabertooth lift his mace to physically lash out rather than try to blast at her mother.

Examining the line of debris left after the green lightning touched the concrete, the lioness saw the line only started several feet from where Grune stood, but not that far from where Maura jumped from. That's when Ariel realized that the powerful light show only worked when the target was farther away, and with her mother attacking close range, there was no longer a threat of the power being used.

A toothy grin slides onto the young she-cat's face as she witnesses her mother run circles around the once prominent and confident warrior. Her middle-aged mother, who was wearing a long red-orange day-dress and had her fiery red hair tied in a tight bun. Her mother who constantly tried to convince her that the battlefield was no place for a lady so she should hurry and get married to have cubs. Her mother who now moved with expert agility and evaded every swing of the mace that the ex-general threw at her. _Maybe we_ **_are _**_more alike then I thought._ Ariel silently cheered for the older lioness as she continued to evade the General's mace and land a few of her own blows on the sabertooth.

And with every sidestep and block, Maura brought the unsuspecting sabertooth closer to her hidden daughter

Grune notices Maura's obvious intentions of getting close to the shadows of the dark alley behind her and grows suspicious. Unexpectedly, Grune kicks out at the lioness as she spun to the side to avoid his mace, and his foot makes contact with her ribcage. Falling onto her side, the she-cat is monetarily winded by the blow, and as she attempts to recatch her breath, the powerful war general seized his moment of opportunity. He raises his mace above his head, intending to strike down Maura and end the quarrel. But with his movement to stand over the disoriented female, the sabertooth tiger made a fatal mistaking of standing with his back to the shadows.

The young lioness shoots from the darkness and wraps her lithe form over the large feline. Ariel climbs up his back and proceeds to strategically place her arms to form a tight chokehold around the surprised male's throat. Grune chokes out at the sudden pressure and drops his mace, trying to grab hold of his new opponent. He catches hold of her small arms and begins clawing and pulling to loosen her grip. And just as he feels her hold slacken slightly, a sharp pain hits him from the side of his neck.

With her sharp canine teeth buried deep in the juncture between Grune's throat and his shoulder, Ariel keeps her tight hold firm and locks her jaw to keep her grip. She feels a rough paw grab onto her head, and on instinct, bites down harder into the sabertooth's flesh making blood gush into her mouth. Her victim flinches and quickly releases her from his hold.

_Try and yank me off and you might just tear a chunk of your shoulder out_, she thought smugly.

Wrapped around the large sabertooth, Ariel doesn't have to pay attention to what's going around her to know that her mother is beating Grune with her makeshift club. The young lioness can feel the fight slowly leaving Grune's body as Maura continues her attacks, all the while she continues her chokehold constricting his airways.

Ariel hoped with every fiber of her being that the large feline would drop soon from exhaustion, letting her unlatched herself from his body. The blood in her mouth made her want to hurl, and the scent of sweat and lizard stuck to Grune's fur, making her nose burn.

But as Maura and Ariel continued with their strategy, they failed to hear Sybil and Levy crying out for them to run.

They failed to hear the warning cries of more lizards.

They failed to smell the moldy and earthy scent that lizardmen projected when in numbers.

Feeling a slight stabbing sensation on her back, Ariel was stunned before she felt her whole body roll with pain. It was a pain she had never experienced before. A sort of flaring pain that made her see white. Her body felt as if she was getting burned, but not by a regular fire or source of heat, the pain was more acute and it was numbing all her senses.

Her body retracted itself, unlatching from Grune and flailing out to the concrete floor. Her claws dragged against the ground as she tries to regain control of her body and push past the pain. Ariel's head felt fuzzy, her ears were ringing again, and her mouth was suddenly extremely dry. Swallowing to try and get her tongue to work, the lioness tastes the irony taste of blood on her tongue. Whether it's her own or Grune's, the lioness doesn't care as she spits it out.

With every move she made, the she-cat's muscles flared anew, making her whimper out in pain. The lioness's eyes were screwed shut as she lightly shook her head, trying to push past the fog of the pain and remain conscious. Slowly, her clouded mind began to clear and the ringing sound that hurt ears was dulled to a low hum. Then her nose started working as well. The scent of burning fur and flesh filled her nose and made her involuntarily gag. Laying on her back, Ariel quickly realized that the scent was coming from her since the area where felt something stab into her was burning as it touched the cool concrete floor.

Trying not to dwell too much on her pain, the young feline registered the sound of murmurs that were becoming more clear. And the voices sounded very close.

"I see you were having some trouble there Grune," a gravelly voice hissed out. "Luckily my men and I were here to help you deal with your little pest problem."

"I would have been fine, Slithe," the lioness heard Grune growl out. "They just surprised me."

_You were surprised? Hah, what in the whiskers just hit me?_ The muscles of her back roared in pain as she shuffled slightly to move, more specifically two pinpricks on her exposed upper back. Slowly pushing herself on to her hands and knees, Ariel groans lowly in aching pain before she finally opens her eyes. For a moment, the world around her seems like multiple massive blurs, then her eyes adjusted to the faint light of the night and she made eye contact with a large green lizard. The lizard was far larger than any lizard she had previously seen in her life, he stood at Grune's shoulder but was much wider than the sabertooth tiger. And he was standing in front of her with a leering smile on his face, and long blaster pointed at her face. The tan fur on her arms stood up as goosebumps covered her body, and feeling of fear and dread weighed down on her already aching muscles.

"As for my reward for my heroic efforts of saving you no good cat," Slithe chortled at the weakened Grune, "I shall take this young she-cat to be my personal slave."

"NO!" Maur's voice bellowed.

Ariel chanced a glance toward her side, witnessing a sight that would forever haunt her. Two lizardmen had Maura flat on her stomach with her arms bound behind her back. And tears were streaming from her eyes. The blaster was strewn far out of reach and the dress that Maura wore was littered with tears that only seemed to worsen as the older she-cat struggled to free herself.

"You leave my daughter alone you dastards!" Maura continued to screech.

"You have no input Maura," Grune sighed lazily. "You lost that privilege as soon as you raised your weapon at me. But I must say Muara, your daughter sure has some teeth on her." The sabertooth brought his paw up to his throat and hissed in pain when it made contact with the open wounds.

The struggle that Maura put up pushed the two lizardmen off her briefly, but they soon regained control and another lizard walked up to the struggle, grabbed the lioness by her red mane, and shoved her into the ground. Hard.

When Maura's skull met the concrete floor with a loud thump, a wave of ice shot through Ariel's body and her brain short-circuited. Acting on instinct, the young lioness pushed herself up and sprung to protect her mother.

For a moment she forgot about Grune and Slithe who had been towering over her. Her focus was solely on the lizards holding her mother. The injured lioness ignored her muscles that protested against her sudden movements, and moved quickly, avoiding Grune's arms that stretched out to stop her. Her sole focus was to protect her mother.

Ariel wasn't far maybe ten feet from the scuffle, but she made that distance in a split second. She shoved her shoulder into one lizard, roundhouse kicked the other, and resolutely stared down at the lizard that still held her mother's mane between his scaly fingers. This lizard didn't have a helmet like the others she had encountered, this one wore goggles leaving his head completely exposed.

Taking the lizard by the shoulders, she swung her head back and plunged forwards, straight for the exposed forehead. The enraged she-cat released the lizard's shoulders, and his body fell backward onto the hard floor. Deep exhales left her system as Ariel tried to calm her racing heart and help her mother, but a harsh tug from her low ponytail had her reeling back.

Two gnarly scaled hands latched on her sides and yanked the young lioness away from Maura.

It took everything in Ariel to push against the force pulling her back. Claws dug slightly into her sides, but she couldn't feel them, all Ariel did was fight back and pushed with every muscle in her legs forward. Her body leaned forward as she reached out to her injured mother. The young female noticed that Maura hadn't moved since her head met the ground, and her body was suspiciously limp.

Since experiencing the harsh pain from moments ago, Ariel hadn't been able to form a single syllable, her mouth and throat were too dry to make any noise. But worry and fear bubbled from deep down in her gut till and pushed an ear-piercing cry from her mouth.

"MA!"

Her sudden screech seemed to momentarily shock every animal around her, with every lizard covering their ears from her shrill cry and Grune stunned in his injured form. But the grip around her exposed waist never let up, instead, it became tighter.

"I've grown quite tired of your mouth little lion," Slithe hissed in her ear. A kick landed on her back, right where the young cat felt a stabbing feeling. The pain resonated through her body a second time and had her falling to her knees in surprise. Suddenly, Ariel felt something akin to a metal mouthguard placed around her head.

It applied pressure on the bridge of her nose and the bottom of her chin, forcing her mouth closed. She felt a strap wrap from one ear, to the back of her head all the way to the other ear. It tightened abruptly, pulling a few hairs from her head. A growl formed low in her throat as Ariel realized what contraption was now attached to her.

A muzzle.

_This damn lizard just muzzled me!_

The lioness shook in silent rage and attempt to wiggle free from Slithe's harsh grip.

"I would stop that struggle if I were you," the large lizard huffed, "Unless you want one of your little friends or even worse, mommy dearest to be hurt."

Slowly, Ariel raised her eyes to see that Sybil and Levi had been put into similar holds as Maura, but the lizards now held their weapons aimed at the back of their heads.

"Your wall has fallen, foolish cats, so what do you fight for now," a smaller lizard cackled not far from her. And then it felt like all the fight had left her body. All tension and power and her muscles escaped her as Ariel realized that it was too late.

_The lizards took over the city in less than a few hours. Where is the King? Where is Prince Tygra? Where is Prince Lion-O? Where's Jaga and the other clerics?_

_Are we the only ones that survived?_

The world around her seemed to go past her in a blur. A cautious lizard walked towards the frozen lioness and tied her wrists tightly with a thick long piece of rope. Slithe took the rope and proceed to drag Ariel down the alleys towards the ruins of Town Square, farther and farther from her unconscious and defenseless mother and friends. Farther from the mountain pass.

With her arms bound in front of her, Ariel followed after the large lizardman quietly defeated through the dark alleyway. Every few steps, Slithe would violently tug on her rope, causing her to trip forward and nearly face plant into the ground. Rolling her eyes at the green reptile's cruel attitude towards her, knowing full well he was doing it for no reason than for his own sick pleasure.

After taking a few turns and saving herself from falling many times, the large lizardman stepped out into the main street of Thundera.

When the lioness walked out into the once-vacant street, all her prior doubts and negative thoughts ceased. The citizens of Thundera were still alive, they were just shackled and being transported like slaves. _Many survived! Thank the Omens._

Taking a chance and looking to the Wall of Thundera, foolishly hoping it was still intact, she tilted her head to the side and felt the air escape her lungs. _Gurr? Papa?_

The Wall was completely and utterly destroyed. There was nothing but fallen stones and bricks that remained of the wide doors that once were open and welcoming. Looking at the destruction of her home, the young female comes close to shedding a few tears at thought of what could have possibly happened to her twin sibling and her father. But she takes a calming breathe through her nose and steels her nerves, blinking away the stinging feeling in her eyes at the unshed tears. _These beasts will pay for what they've done!_

Staring at the wall, for another moment she averts her gave to the broken and destroyed buildings around her. That's when Ariel notices the large metallic figures standing around.

_They really spared no expense, they brought a whole armada right to our streets._

"You best be on good behavior now little lion," Slithe warned lowly. "Don't try and fight your handler or attempt to run away. Unless you want to end up electrocuted again." Ariel didn't have to be looking at the overgrown salamander to now that he was smiling down at her, _Probably wishing I'd put up a fight, any excuse to make me feel pain._

Having the muzzle on meant very limited movement for her jaw, and as much as Ariel wanted to click her tongue or grit her teeth, her mouth was stuck shut. So the she-cat continued to look on as other Thundercats were being pushed around roughly, chained, and shoved into transport carts. The street was filled with fragments of destroyed buildings and small fires that burned everything it touched, sending ashes and smoke up to the dark sky.

_And to think, the day started out with such a beautiful sky and streets filled with happy cats. Now there is nothing but despair and pain._

Grimacing at her depressing thoughts, Ariel turns her head, intending to no longer watch other Thundercats get bullied and harassed. Then she saw something, a familiar large panther was resisting the lizards who were trying to subdue him. He was roaring, growling, and biting at any abled lizard that got close to him.

Instead of taking a step forward to continue following Slithe, Ariel made the mistake of slightly turning her body towards Leopold's position. Feeling a tension on the rope that held the lioness, the large reptile snarled before spinning around to yell at the lioness to keep moving. But when Slithe turned around, he realized her focus wasn't on his large form but on something going on not far from their position. In the ruckus going in the street, it was easy to spy what caught the female cat's attention. He smirked lowly to himself as he watched the fight of a single feline against a few lizards.

"That another one of your friends?" he asked.

Ariel stiffened up but refused to show any other weakness to the lizard, _Don't want to give him the satisfaction_. But when a high pitched whistle leaves Slithe's lips, it takes everything in Ariel not to flinch at the sharp sound.

Suddenly, the large panther was surrounded by lizards who all collectively grabbed hold and pushed the panther to the ground.

_Leopold! Please no!_

The lioness could only watch from the distance as a lizard with a large forked spear came forward and plunged his weapon down on the snarling panther. For a moment, Ariel believed she was seeing things because as the tip of the forked weapon made contact with Leopold's back, a flash of bluish-white light surrounded his body. Then a buzzing sensation filled the air making her fur stand on end, and the familiar smell of burnt hair made her realize what happened.

"Looks fun doesn't it," Slithe whispered in her ear. "Too bad we didn't electrocute you with that much power, we only did enough that you were stunned and paralyzed."

_So they electrocuted me to get me off of Grune?_

Eyes wide, the lioness continued to stare at her fallen friend and watch as the panther got dragged and ungraciously thrown into a slave cart.

A tug on her wrist had Ariel reeling slowly after Slithe who continued on walking through the fallen city streets, leading her on deeper into the city. Even in the cover of night and with many buildings lying in ruin, the young female could tell what street she was on. _Not that far from the arena_.

No longer wanting to watch the horrific scene unfold around her, the saddened lioness drops her head and stares down at the ground at her feet.

When they were both collectively in the center of the street, a strained voice called out to Slithe over the bustle that was going on. Stopping abruptly, the large green lizard turned and glared down at something over her head, "What is it?"

From behind her, a voice responded, "General Slithe, sir. General Grune has made his way to meet the King and the Prince's in the arena, he awaits with Mumm-Ra for the royal lion line to finally come to end. Mumm-Ra himself asks for you to bear witness the Thundercat's downfall."

Stunned in silence, Ariel could only inwardly blanch at the notion that the main goal of this attack was not only to destroy a notorious empire but to kill off their royal line. _And that traitor sat with the King and the Princes and jollily ate and drank his fill yesterday!_

Filled with rage at the ex-general, Ariel can do nothing but glare at the ground and think of the many ways she wanted to erase Grune off the face of Thundera.

Cooly, almost smug, Slithe replied, "Of course. Here take her leash. My Lord is rather not fond of lions, and I want to keep this one alive enough to test out some new torture tactics. Don't want her life snuffed out too soon." Reaching over her head, Slithe swiftly passed on the coarse rope to the attendant before making his way towards the arena.

"Yes, sir," was the clipped response Ariel heard before she felt her body being tugged in the same direction she had just come from. That's when Ariel finally got a good look at the lizard that now held her new 'leash.' And for some reason, the bluish scales struck a sense of familiarity deep within her. But the she-cat kept her brisk pace and followed the skinny lizard.

The wild flames from the destroyed city, danced as a cool breeze flew over the streets. And as if her day couldn't get any worse, the band holding her mane in a low ponytail snaps. A passing cool breeze lazily carries the long black hair in the air softly before gravity pulls the tresses down onto her lower back.

She curses herself for her bad luck but continues trudging after the speed walking blue lizard. From behind the lizard, the lioness took note of the several black straps that held up his weapons and gear. Yet his arms did not hold a forked spear or one of those blasters, instead, he held a suspiciously large knapsack.

A knapsack

_Knapsack!_

"Nzzz!" Ariel tried to cry but the muzzled neglected her form making the proper syllables. _What is Naz doing here? I thought he was set free! Was he apart of this whole plot?! After everything I di-_

"Hush Lady Ariel," Naz whispered quietly. "I'm here to help. We saw the army as we were making our escape, so we decided to come back and help the lions that helped us. To repay our debts. A lizard is nothing if not only stealthy but a loyal ally until death."

Nearly jumping for joy, Ariel convinced herself to save the theatrics until she was safe. She still held her cold composure on the outside but she was weeping tears of joy on the inside. _I knew what I did wasn't a mistake!_

Stepping over fallen debris, gold that was thrown from the inside of some cats' homes, and discarded weapons, the lioness and lizard kept walking quickly to the end of the street, trying to make it into a dark alley.

"Hey, you!" a bold voice bellowed.

The call startled the nervous reptile, making him pause midstep and look to the origin of the voice, but Ariel kept walking, too impatient to wait another moment. Luckily the voice was not calling for their attention, rather another lizard in their direction that stood in one of the large metal figures. Naz recovered from the scare and started running to the alley, nearly dragging a surprised Ariel behind him.

Once in the safety of the shadows, out of the main streets, Naz makes quick work of untying the rope around Ariel's wrists, letting her have some movement back. The lioness rubbed her tender wrists before stretching her body, paying careful attention to her back which she realizes is where she was probed with the electrocuting spear.

Just as Naz makes a move to continue forward, she catches his claw and raises it up to the muzzle, hoping he understands what she means. Getting the message, Naz raises his hands and examines the muzzled wrapped around her head, turning her face to get a better view of the straps, just as the lioness hopes he figured out how to take the blasted thing off, his arms fall. The blue lizard shakes his head slowly before explaining,

"There's a lock on the back of your head, where the strap lies, I would cut it but I'm afraid that would only hurt you further. Slithe was rather cruel to put it on so tight."

Ariel's shoulder drop as her small hope of more freedom dies. Nodding her head solemnly, the lioness fiddles with her pendant for the umpteenth time to calm her nerves.

"I suggest hitting the nearest village and having a locksmith pick the lock, but for you to do that we have to make headway now!"

The lizard takes the lioness' raised wrist and begins tugging her back into the dark alley. The same alley that her, her mother, Sybil, and Levy took to get to the mountain pass.

The fight and fire that once fueled her body started to grow cold as Ariel thought back to her friends and family members. The haunting thoughts resurfaced in her mind.

_Are they dead? Are they alive? Are they waiting for me? Will they wait for me? Are they counting on me? Omens, why is it just me that gets this chance, why couldn't you have sparred more people from this tragedy. Why not Lion-O?_

Naz notices Arield lagging behind and pulls on her still sore wrist yet again, trying to get her to speed up. "I know it seems terrible now but realize you are being given the chance to continue living, a chance to escape. And wouldn't your family encourage you if they knew about the chance you had?"

Getting lectured by a lizard that she should keep fighting and continue living for her family, was not on the top of Ariel's list of things to experience ever in her life. Yet here she is, running beside a lizardman who is desperately trying to set her free from the cruel harsh intention of the lizardmen army. They were supposed to be mortal enemies if the day's events were any message of the relationship between Lizardmen and the Thundercats. Well, any other species and the ThunderCats in general.

A corner of Ariel's lips quirks up as she realizes that she has truly been blessed by the Omen's to survive the Fall of Thundera. She has the chance to see another sunrise.

The duo push on, sprinting through the dark alleys.

Once they reached the street that leads the mountain pass, Naz finally released Ariel's wrist and slowed his pace. He hastily took the knapsack and wrapped the strap around Ariel's shoulder. "There should be enough food in there to last a few days, its just a few things I stole from the tabless. I also happened to help in the raid of the palace, so please don't be angry Lady Ariel, but I stole a few things and stashed them into the bag. Just a few weapons and gold pieces. Now please do yourself a favor, and please try to stay hidden. Don't be foolish and try to stand against us. An ancient evil has resurfaced, and he wishes to rule all of Third Earth, so I beg you to stay safe and smart."

The blue lizard peeked out from the end of the alley, checked that the coast was clear before waving it was safe for Ariel to go. Taking a deep breath, the she-cat reached out Naz and pulled him into a brief hug trying to display her thanks since she can't speak properly. Taken off guard by the display of affection, it takes a moment for the lizard to respond to her kind gesture. He brings his scally hand and pats Ariel's back softly before he pushed her toward the mountain pass.

"Go," he whispers. A wide grin somehow finds itself on the young lion's face before she nods her head and sprints towards the door leading to the world beyond Thundera's walls.

Leading her to freedom.

The thick wooden door looked to be very heavy, but in reality, the wood wasn't too dense so it should be quite easy for Ariel to open without any assistance. Grabbing the door handle, the small lioness pulls the door open wide enough for her to slip through. The loud squeaking of the old metal hinges on the door in the quiet of the late night air made the young female pause in fear. Looking to each side of the street, the lioness made sure no animal was watching her as she pushed herself through the gap of the door. Now in the cover of the mountain cave, Ariel reaches for the door handle and carefully pulls the door closed.

And just as the door closed, the last glimpse of Thundera the lioness saw was a battle ridden lizard who was waving enthusiastically at her from the shadows of the alley across the street.

Then the door clicked close, and the light of the overhead lanterns, stars, and moons could no longer project light into the dark cave.

* * *

A/N:

Sorry again, it's been so long since I last updated. I know I previously said that Ariel would be meeting he Thundercats this chapter, but I ended up making this chapter much longer and drawn out than I had anticipated. College kept me super busy this year, especially with the transfer to going online.

Thanks for the reviews **frankannestein**, ** , ****Heart of Demons**, **Seeds of Destruction**, and **NevaehMichelle13**! And to new followers and readers, thanks for looking at this piece of work that I haven't touched in over eight months. I will try to be more timely with the updates, but I am also taking summer classes and trying to get an internship so I won't be stuck at home all day. Or else I am going to go stir crazy. I hope everyone is happy and healthy and staying safe at this time. Remember to wash your hands! Luv y'all!

-Star


	6. Ramlak Rising

Since there was no natural light in the mountain pass, Ariel had to keep a paw on the rough cave wall to navigate herself. Her vision was usually extremely good at night, but the pitch-black darkness of the cave proved to be very hard to walk through. She learned that the hard way after walking face-first into a cave wall a few times. The bridge of her nose still throbbed where the muzzle rested on her face, especially after she rammed into a wall for the third time.

With no concept of time, it felt as though the lioness had been walking through the cave for several hours. It was only when the feeling of the rock wall transitioned from jagged to smooth under her touch did the lioness feel like she was making some progress.

_I'm close to the exit,_ she thought hopefully.

Excitement washes over the young she-cat as she realizes she was somewhat close to the end of the mountain pass. Tightening her grip on the strap of her knapsack, she hikes it up higher onto her shoulder before quickening her pace. Practically jogging alongside the wall, the thought of finally stepping back into the light of the day after wandering in the darkness made the lioness feel giddy. The paw she had stretched out on the smooth wall soon came in contact with another firm surface, this time it felt rough and brittle. Sliding her hand across, Ariel identified that it was wood since she felt a slight pain from a splinter. _The door._

Patting around the softwood, Ariel tries to feel around for the doorknob. Hitting the door when she cannot feel any metal knob or latch, she takes a step back to try and remember how the door was opened the last time she traveled through the mountain pass with her family.

_The door is never locked, I remember Papa telling me that. But every time we came through this way, the door was always wide open. There are no metal hinges where the wood meets rock, and there is no space for light to peek through, so the door must be wider than the cave opening. __So how did the door open?_

For a moment, the lioness's mind drew a blank. Ariel fiddled with her pendant for a moment before she started wiggling the metal cage that hung around her face. _Can't wait to get this damn thing off, _she thought angrily. Forgetting the obstacle that stood directly in front of her, the lioness leaned her free hand against the softwood door. With part of her body mass pushing into the wooden surface, Ariel feels the door shift slightly. Retracting her hand, Ariel listens as the door slides back into its previous position.

_It can't possibly be that easy_, she wondered to herself quietly.

Baffled at her discovery, the lioness places her hand back on the door and applies more pressure than she had before. The door slides forward, and above her head, a sliver of daylight shines into the dark cave.

Dropping the knapsack with a dull thud, Ariel raises her other paw onto the door and begins pushing with all her strength on the wood. All her sore muscles scream at her to stop, the burning sensation of her back returning with a vengeance. If her mouth wasn't already pushed tightly closed, she would grit her teeth to try and distract herself from the pain.

But Ariel is far too stubborn. She dug her feet into the ground underneath her and pushed with her legs to get some momentum.

The door gave way, falling quickly, and the lion nearly topples over in surprise. Ariel thankfully saves herself from completely falling and instead stumbles to her knees. It was then that she realized that the door was more like a draw bridge than an actual door. The light from the rising sun over the horizon blinds her momentarily, but as her green eyes adjust to the environment around her, she can't help but admire the scenery.

Sitting on the door, Ariel noticed that the cave opened up to a small clearing. The trees around her stood tall, way above her head with full bushels of bright green leaves. Wildflowers growing in a variety of colors littered the ground around the fallen door. Taking a deep breath through her nose, Ariel gives herself a brief moment of peace before she starts her trek through the wilderness. The trees around the small clearing sway with a passing breeze. Black tangled hair dances in the air as the winds swirl around the relaxed she-cat's form.

Patting her upper thighs abruptly, the lioness nods to herself and stands up on her tired legs. She turns and takes hold of the knapsack lying at the mouth of the cave before making her way into the lush green forest.

Following a well-traveled path leading from the mouth of the cave, Ariel becomes curious about what Naz packed in the knapsack.

Keeping her languid pace, the lioness unhooks the latch of the knapsack and reaches into the bag, feeling around its contents. The first thing she feels is leathery skin that seemed familiar. When taking the leathery object out, she finds out it was a bunch of pieces of fish jerky tied together. The scent of the dried meat has her tongue watering and her stomach grumbling in hunger.

Lightning fast, Ariel tears a piece of jerky off of one end of the stash. Bringing the meat close to her face, the famished lioness attempts to push the jerky through her muzzle.

Laced like a net, the metal cage around her mouth leaves no room for the wide cut of jerky to fit through the gaps. Stomach growling and throat itchy, Ariel realizes how much of an obstacle the muzzle is proving to be. _Not gonna last long if I can't eat or drink anything._

Pushing the jerky back into the bag, the lioness digs through the bag again to find what else was packed. Ariel finds an empty flask, a small knife, and a few strands of thin rope. When placing the twine back into the knapsack, her paw hit something cold. It felt smooth and circular under her touch, and when she pulled the item out, Ariel realized why the bag felt so heavy.

In her paw, she held a compact arm shield. The shield itself was wider than her chest, but it was small enough to still fit in the knapsack comfortably. The shield was made of dark grey metal and shined like it was newly polished. Attached to the underside of the shield was a vambrace made of the same material. Curious, Ariel stuck her right hand through the vambrace and found that it fit snugly against her forearm. Almost as if it was made specifically for her.

Lifting her arm high, the lioness marveled at the lightweight shield as the light from the sun reflected off of it. Ariel's lips lifted into a small smile as she began swinging the shield around as if she was fighting an invisible enemy. Wielding the shield gave the lioness a sense of security that she seemingly lost when she witnessed the fall of Thundera.

It made her feel like her old self again as if she could take on any challenge with a brave face and a positive attitude.

_Let's see what this thing can do._ The knapsack fell from the ThunderCat's shoulder as she rushed forward to test out the shield on a nearby tree.

Swinging the shield back, the lioness prepares to make a shallow cut in the tree. Then just as Ariel swung the shield forward, the slab of metal completely disengages from the vambrace. With wide eyes, Ariel watches in slow motion as the shield flies through the air and bounces off the surface of her defenseless tree. She has about a millisecond to duck before the dark shield shoots at her head. Hearing a **thunk**, the young female slowly stands to her full height and turns to find the shield had embedded itself deep into the bark of the tree standing directly behind her.

_Well, I'm not trying that again._ Heart hammering in her chest and adrenaline pumping through her veins, the smile still never left the lioness's face.

Ariel steps forward and proceeds to wrench the shield from the tree. Bracing her barefoot at the base of the tree, Ariel grabs the shield by both sides before pulling. With a hard yank, the shield is removed from the tree, along with a chunk of bark. The lioness examined the underside of the shield before properly positioning it to slide back into place with the vambrace. After hearing the satisfying click of the metal pieces locking together, Ariel shakes her forearm to make sure the shield was properly attached.

Happy with her momentary progress, she pushes on down the grassy trail, hoping that she would reach the village sooner, rather than later.

_I'm betting Naz wouldn't happen to have packed a map or a compass._

Rummaging through the bag again, Ariel pushes past the twine, flask, and jerky to the bottom of the knapsack. She feels the cool touch of Thunderian coins, but no parchment or compass. Ariel rolls her eyes in irritation but continues following the path, telling herself she'll make it to the closest village before nightfall.

When the sky above her head transforms from a bright pink color to a clear blue, the lioness notices a break in the tree line.

And the outline of a small cottage.

Ariel starts at a dead sprint towards the house, hoping that whoever lives there is friendly and willing to help her. As she got closer, the she-cat realized it was not just a small cottage but a whole village. Cheering at her good fortune, she pushes herself to run faster.

_Maybe somebody can help me finally get this contraption off my face._

Her feet skid to a stop as she reaches the door of the first cottage. Rapidly knocking on the door, Ariel waits for the homeowner to answer the door.

No one answers. The lioness knocks again and patiently stands at the door.

Nothing.

Then Ariel turned to see if she would have better luck at another cottage. Stepping away from her first cottage, the lioness notices the lack of bustle and noise that usually goes on in a small village. She paused midstep and listened to see if she could hear any sounds of footfalls or hushed whispers.

The village was completely silent.

That's when Ariel notices the broken windows and doors of the cottages around her. Stunned, the she-cat can only stare with wide eyes at the shattered glass and splintered wood of the destroyed homes. Peering at the ground, the lioness feels all the dark emotions that she had been trying to ignore resurface. A heavy feeling weighed down on her stomach, making her feel queasy and uncomfortable.

Scattered across the ground was the unmistakable three-pronged tracks of the lizardmen army.

_Did the lizard army hit every ThunderCat village before attacking Thundera? _

The cold, icy feeling of despair cut through Ariel's warm heart as she concluded that she was utterly alone.

She was alone in the cave. She walked alone through the forest. And now she stood alone in a village that was probably once filled with happy and healthy cats.

The lioness started hyperventilating through her nose when she realized that there was going to be no one to help her. She had to fend for herself in a world where her people were being persecuted.

Mentally slapping herself to refocus, the lioness lifts her heated gaze from the ground and begins walking through the village with clenched fists. Stalking through the cottages, she tries to find anything she can salvage from the destruction.

Behind one of the cottages, Ariel finds a basin of water. Overcome by thirst, she plunges her face into the water. Small bubbles float from her nose as she tries to open her mouth as wide as she can and swallow as much water as she could. After taking several greedy gulps, the lioness raises her head from the basin and pulls the empty flask out of her knapsack to fill it with water.

Shoving the flask back into the knapsack, she continues looking around the remains of the village. Walking into several cottages, Ariel rummaged around to see if she could find a thin metal rod that she can use to try and pick the lock of her muzzle. She came up with nothing. Instead, she found a large dark cloak and a variety of sharp knives.

Taking her chances, Ariel raises one of the smaller knives and attempts to cut the strap of the muzzle. The blade easily slides off the strap, not leaving a single scratch. Shoulder's dropping in defeat, the lioness sheathes the knife before putting it into her knapsack. Going into the final cottage, Ariel searches for anything else that she could find useful.

Rifling through the broken chunks of wood and chattered pieces of pottery, the lioness scanned over the tops of the counters and desks that still sat upright. The light from outside reflected off the shattered window, brightening the dark home slightly. She turned to leave as she completed her search but halted when the corner of a slip of paper peeked out from the side of a desk.

Cautiously, she guided herself through the mess of splintering wood and sharp edges of the ceramic pieces that scattered across the floor. Once she stood over the still intact desk, the lioness almost danced around in silent victory. Covered in shards of tile and thrown bits of woods laid a map of Third Earth

_Navigating through the forest should be easy now, _Ariel boasted to herself as she carefully pulled the map out from its confinement.

With quick steps, she backtracks out of the cottage and kneels on the ground to spread out her new map. She carefully analyzes the landmarks to figure out her current location and which direction she should travel after leaving the village.

_It seems I went directly north of Thundera, so if I go east and follow the River of Despair southeast, then cross the Green Canyon, it should only be a two day or so walk until I reach the Kalahari village._

Satisfied with her plan, Ariel folds the map and places it into her pants pocket. Standing up, the young she-cat took one final look around the sad village.

_The lizards will pay for this needless destruction and pain, _she thought angrily._ I swear on my life that I will do everything in my power to set all cats free. Just wait for me. The day will come where we will once again laugh and eat together as we did before. _

Removing the shield from her arm and placing it back into her knapsack, Ariel checks all the things in her bag before pushing into the thick underbrush of the forest.

Just before sunset, Ariel finds the River of Despair and sets up for the night. She gathered a few dead branches that were lying around in the forest and started a small fire. As the fire grew from a small flame into a good-sized campfire, Ariel stared down at the peaceful fish that swam through the river, taunting her. The lioness's stomach growled at her, but she ignored it. Turning to her bag, she took out the flask and the herbal leaves she had picked when she was walking through the forest.

The top of the flask was twisted off, and Ariel tipped her head far back before tilting the flask and pouring the water through a gap in her muzzle. Even after spilling the whole flask down her face, she still felt thirsty and debated on sticking her face into the river. Quickly dismissing the idea, the lioness decides on fixing her tangled and windswept mane.

The brightness of the setting sun and her small campfire, provided enough light for her to successfully braid the hair that wasn't stuck under the muzzle. As a substitute for a hair tie, Ariel cut a small piece of twine and used it to tie the end of her braid.

Once she was satisfied with how her mane looked in the reflection of the deep river, the lioness turns her attention to her throbbing back.

The orange leaves she had grabbed were used regularly to treat burn wounds in the Kalahari village, so she knew how to use the herb. Usually, she would have chewed the leaf up to form a paste and apply it to her wound, but she couldn't exactly do that with her muzzle on. Ariel instead uses two rocks to grind the leaves and applies a few drops of water to form a paste. Pulling her braid to lie over her shoulder, she began grinding the leaves. After crushing three leaves with the rocks, the lioness started applying the grimy paste onto her back.

The orange paste was sticky and filmy, but when Ariel carefully applied it to her upper back, right between her shoulder blades, the lioness nearly moaned in relief. The once throbbing area seemed to cool a few degrees as the lioness applied the paste. When she was finished, the satisfied female took one of the leftover leaves and held it to the pasted area. The young cat added pressure onto the leaf to be sure it stuck and acted as a bandage to the burned wound.

Content with her treatment, the tired lion stretched onto her stomach on the grassy floor. Looking to her knapsack, she stretched her arm out and dragged it closer to her to pull out the black cloak she had found at the village.

Ariel draped the cloak around her body like a blanket and scooted closer to the fire. The sun had completely set beyond the horizon, and the three moons of Third Earth began rising into the sky to meet with the stars. The temperature dropped a considerable amount, but with her makeshift 'blanket' and a warm fire, the she-cat did not grow cold. Her body stayed warm, the cool metal of her necklace, and her earring was a stark contrast to her body heat. But for the life of her, the lioness could not find sleep in her cozy position.

Her mind was flashing with the events of the day. Her home was destroyed, her family was split, her mother was hurt, and she just ran away.

_No,_ Ariel scolded herself lightly. _I didn't run away. I left to regroup, to seek help. If I had stayed, we would have all been stuck in the same place with no hope in the world of ever being saved._

Laying the side of her head against her folded arms like a pillow, Ariel closes her eyes and tries to push her evil thoughts out of her mind to get some rest. The fire cracked wildly beside her, and the white noise of the nocturnal wildlife around her provided to act as a lullaby for the lioness. It didn't take long for Ariel to succumb to sleep.

* * *

Emerald green eyes snapped open as the light of the rising sun peeked through the trees and hit her face. The lioness groaned in grogginess and stretched out on the comfy grass underneath her. Rubbing the sleep out of her emerald eyes, Ariel pushed herself off her stomach and onto her feet. Once she stood on both feet, Ariel reached forward, arching her back and popping her stiff joints.

A muffled moan left her mouth as she stood back to her full height. Throwing her long braid over her shoulder, the she-cat kneels to the river and carefully pushes her face into the water. After drinking her fill, the lioness raises herself and stares at her reflection in the water.

If the muzzle wasn't constricting her jaw movement, the sleepy female would have laughed at herself. Ariel had a case of extreme bedhead with her mane sticking up on the side of her head that she had slept on. The edge her lips curled up slightly as she thought about how similar to her brother she looked at that moment. _I look like Gurr when he just woke up from falling asleep on his desk during class in grade school._

Pushing herself up again, the she-cat turns to her temporary camp and begins packing. The cloak was folded and placed in her bag. The fire had long since died, and after splashing it with water, there was no fear of it turning into a forest fire after she left. Then Ariel reached for the leaf on her back and carefully peeled it off. The area where she applied the healing paste was slightly sticky, so she dipped her hand into the water and rubbed the remnants of the paste away.

Satisfied with her cleanup job, Ariel hikes the knapsack up on to her shoulder and follows the river southward.

For the first hour of trekking beside the fast-moving river, the weather was moderate and sunny. It was delightfully calm and soothing compared to what Ariel experienced a few nights ago. Even the noises of the tree's swaying in the wind proved to be quiet relaxing. The silence of the air was suddenly shattered by the sound of splashing water.

Several gray fish were jumping clear out of the water, almost as if they purposefully mocking her. The lioness's stomach growled again, except this time it squeezed painfully tight at its emptiness. Holding a paw over her bare abdomen and kneading it softly, Ariel tried to dull the ache of her empty stomach. She glared down at the lively fish for another moment before turning her gaze to the lush forest she was walking through.

Out of the corner of her eye, a bright pop of yellow catches her attention. Turning her head fully to the side, she notices a tall bush with a bunch of small yellow berries hanging from its branches.

_Braxenberries!_

Taking a few steps away from the river, Ariel approaches the berry bush and plucks one of its many berries. The berry was quite small, about the same size as a Thunderian copper piece, and its skin was smooth and delicate as a grape. With the berry between her fingers, she carefully examines it before crushing it and sniffing the berry's juice.

Braxenberries have a very sweet, almost chocolatey scent, while its identical cousin, the poisonous brackenberry, was very sour. And when the female ThunderCat deeply inhaled through her nose, the familiar aroma of rich dark chocolate filled her nose.

Pleased with her discovery, she picks a handful of the brightly colored berries. Tilting her head back, Ariel opens her mouth as wide as she can as she shoves the crushed berry bits through the gap of her muzzle. And with the help of gravity, the sweet berries easily fell between the young female's lips. A few drops of juice easily missed her mouth and traveled down her ching, but she didn't mind, the sickly sweet scent calmed her slightly. The delightful flavor of the sickly sweet braxenberries on her tongue was a welcomed change from the metallic taste of blood that had been stuck in her mouth.

It was only after three handfuls of braxenberries did Ariel feel sated and full enough to keep moving. She picked the remaining berries and carefully placed them in a side pocket in her knapsack for later.

Sighing in satisfaction at finally having something in her stomach, the lioness falls back to the following the river.

As time passed, a swarm of large dark clouds flew in, blocking the bright sun. The calming breeze from the morning air evolved into violent winds that shook the trees. The water in the river sloshed up onto the banks where she walked, and the tree branches were swinging wildly in every direction. And the wind chilled Ariel to the bone.

She was used to extremely windy and harsh climates that the Kalahari village resided in, but after living in Thundera for so long, her body seems to have become accustomed to the usually temperate and humid climate. Ariel shook her head at herself, _Just great._

The lioness shook slightly as cold tremors racked through her body each time the wind swept past her. Grabbing the cloak from her pack, the cold female buttons the collar of the cloak pulls the hood over her head and wraps her body in the dark material to protect herself against the elements.

Somehow the shivering cat was able to endure the terrible weather, and after pushing herself forward a couple of miles, the opening of the Green Canyon came into view. A breath of relief escapes Ariel's mouth as she quickly moves her shivering form towards the canyon.

The river she had been following became shallow enough for her to cross. With quick steps, the young lioness crosses the river and speedily enters the gap between the two green towering mounds of earth.

The expanding walls of eroded earth protected the hectic winds that pulled her body to and fro, yet as Ariel walked deeper into the green canyon, a strong gust of wind would blow through the opening and fly past her. Pushing her hood down, the young female tries to brush her wild baby hairs back into place as she made her way through canyon's trail. The lioness followed the path through the wide canyon when she suddenly came upon a split-path.

Not knowing which path she should take, she reaches into her pocket to retrieve the map. _Hopefully, it will help point me in the right direction._

But when Ariel's paw pulls a piece of paper out of her pocket, it wasn't the map. It was the letter from the King she had jammed in her pocket the night of The Fall. The lioness reminisced the joy she had felt earlier that day when she had hung out with Leopold in the arena. _The day had started so perfectly . . ._

Traitorous tears fall from her emerald eyes as she absentmindedly rubs the royal wax seal of the letter. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision, and inhales deeply to calm down her rapidly beating, and broken, heart. Several deep breaths later, Ariel stared down at the piece of parchment for another moment before putting it in her pocket.

But as Ariel moves to put the letter back into her pocket, a powerful gust of wind blows the piece of paper out of her grasp.

_No!_

The paper dances in the air ahead of her, shooting down the left path. The lioness races after the letter, reaching out to yank it out of the air, but the wind was too rapid and wild, evading her at every attempt. Even after tripping over multiple large rocks, Ariel kept her focus on the flying letter.

Just as the lioness started running out of breath, the wind slowed before dissipating altogether, letting the envelope float down to the ground. Sliding to a stop, the female picks the letter up off the floor and brushes the little specs of dirt off. Stuffing the piece of paper into her pocket, the lioness looks around and notices that she is lost.

Earlier, Ariel had been walking down a one-way path but now she stood in the center of a footpath that had four passages leading in different directions. And for the life of her, the lioness could not remember which path she had just come from.

_Oh, whiskers._

Pulling on the chain of her makeshift choker, the she-cat debates on what she should do. She looks up and debates on scaling the canyon wall to see if she can figure out where she is.

Then another breath of wind swirls around her body, this one less violent than ones before. The flaps of her cloak move with the wind and sway towards the path to her right. Ariel turns slightly trying to find the direction the wind was coming from, but all she got was still air. It was like the path itself was sucking her in its direction.

A believer in the existence of higher powers, the lioness leaps of faith and follows after the mysterious wind. _Lord don't fail me now, _she prays in her mind.

Walking down the path the wind was blowing her towards, the lioness raises the hood back over her head and keeps a brisk pace. The movement of the wind soon stopped after she started down the path, and it wasn't long after she had been walking that the expanse of the canyon walls expanded and lead to an entrenched river.

From studying the map earlier, Ariel figured that she now stood somewhere towards the center of the Green Canyon. The entrenched river in the Green Canyon only ran a few miles down the center before dropping off into the Lake of Souls. What puzzled the lioness though was the trees that lined the frame of the river, they weren't like the trees that were in the forest she was in previously. These trees had much wider and shorter trunks than the tall and skinny trees she had been walking through that morning. Quirking her head to the side in confusion, Ariel takes a step forward to get a closer look. The feeling of rocks crumbling under her foot made her quickly retract it, and when she looked down, the lioness gasped in shock.

From where she stood, it was a straight drop off into the small valley, and if Ariel had stepped out with her full weight, she's sure the edge of the cliff would have crumbled, and she would have fallen. The fall itself, wouldn't have hurt, but landing on the jagged rocks that lined the bottom would have been painful. Not wanting to get injured, the lioness thought carefully of a way to cross this new obstacle.

_Maybe if I climb down and cross the river, there should be another opening further into the canyon that will lead me out._ Happy with her plan, Ariel kneels and starts cautiously placing her bare feet on the bits of rocks that extended out from the green wall of the canyon. With her claws, the lioness kept a tight grip on the green slabs of rock each time she extended her foot lower.

When her cloaked figure hung about twenty feet above the sharp rocks, the female's left foot slipped off the supporting rock she was standing on, making her heart jump. Too afraid to look down, Ariel tries to correct her center of gravity, but in her haste, she accidentally loosens her hold on the rock she was holding with her raised right paw. Now holding all of her weight with her left arm, the lioness feels the sting of her muscles straining to keep herself up.

_Whiskers,_ she curses absently.

Looking around and not seeing any possible rocks to grab hold, Ariel ruffles through her bag to try and find the knife she found at the village. The cool metal of the shield glides under her touch, but the lioness pushes further into the knapsack, trying to find the tool that she needed. Several minutes later, her fingertips finally brushed against the worn leather of the knife's grip. Swiftly pulling the knife out, she maneuvers to push the sheath of the blade off. With her heart in her throat, the female's fear and anxiety rose as the sheath refused to budge. Then she started to lose feeling in her arm. Growing more nervous, the lioness drags the knife against the side of the canyon wall, and as she hoped, the edge of rock caught the end of the sheath as she pulled the blade out.

The sheath slid off the knife and fell with gravity to the ground. Spinning the blade in her paw, Ariel held the knife tightly before plunging it into the canyon wall. The knife easily cut through the rock, and when the lioness started applying more of her body weight onto the blade, it held firm.

As the lioness descended lower, she continued stabbing the knife into the wall to keep steady and control her leverage as she climbed. Compared to climbing with her bare paws, the knife made it much easier for Ariel to adjust herself and reach the lower ledges.

Once the distance between the ground and her feet was small enough that she didn't fear to jump, the lioness wrenches her knife and pushes off from the wall. Her feet landed a few inches away from the base of the jagged rock formation, and as she shuffled her way past the sharp green slabs of rock Ariel notices the sheath to her knife wedged between two rocks. Retrieving the sheath, the lioness swiftly covers the blade before placing it back into her bag.

Treading between the thick groves of trees, she listens for the sound of rushing water to guide her toward the river. The trees that surrounded her were taller than she first thought, but they were significantly shorter than trees outside the canyon. Thick green vines hung from the branches making her trek through the entrenched forest harder than she had anticipated.

_And I thought climbing down the wall would be the toughest part_ she thought ruefully as she pushed through the heavy curtain of vines. Just as the lioness reaches down and makes to take out her knife again, a noise from above her catches her attention.

Looking up to the canopy, all Ariel's see is a dark blur before her vision goes black. And not because her eye-lids closed of her own accord but because something landed on her face and was currently scratching her. Swiftly grabbing the figure, the lioness attempts to peel the figure off her face but the thing thinks differently and hooks itself to her muzzle. With a fierce tug, the creature finally detaches from her metal muzzle, causing it to snap back and hit her sore nose. Wriggling her nose in discomfort, the lioness peers down at the figure with an annoyed look fixed in her eyes.

To her surprise, in her paw's she held a snarf. Creatures considered as pets to most ThunderCats in Thundera, they are thought to be the most loyal nursemaids to help take care of young cubs in the nursery of the animal hospitals. The small mahogany cat-like creature wiggled in her grasp, whipping his tail around and pushing against her wrists to be set free. Its wide lime green stared up at her in fear as he continued whining and hissing at her.

Ariel remembered when she saw snarfs deep in the valley's surrounding the Kalahari village, how she had always wanted to bring one back with her to Thundera, but her mother had always refused. _Nothing can stop me now,_ the optimistic lioness chortled to herself as her gaze softened.

Bringing the snarf close to her armored chest with one arm, Ariel dives one hand into her bag to find a piece of fish jerky. The snarf scratch and pushed at her chest plate, desperate to get away, but as soon as it could smell the fish jerky, it stopped moving entirely. Its little pink nose wiggle as it sniffed the air, and as Ariel brought the piece of meat closer to its mouth, she saw its slit pupils dilate slightly.

Cautiously, the snarf leaned its head forward, not breaking eye contact with the lioness and opened its smallmouth. Once its teeth chomped down on the dried meat, the small creature began purring and mewling in content.

The snarf quickly snatched the jerky out her hand, pulling it closer towards itself as it chewed. With her newly freed paw, the lioness starts scratching behind one of the fluffy mahogany ears of the adorable creature. Loving the attention, the pet keens and curls itself into Ariel's arm, getting extremely comfortable as it ate the piece of fish jerky.

As the ball of fur in her arms finished eating, it licked its paws of remnants of the fish jerky before looking up at her. Realizing the snarf was silently asking if she had any more fish jerky, the lioness shook her head silently. The snarfs ears drop in disappointment, but in another moment, the small creature yawned loudly before burrowing further into her chest plate. Ariel could only watch quietly as the small adorable creature in arms fell asleep. Happy with her new traveling companion, the lion keeps moving forward as carefully as possible as to not disturb the sleeping snarf.

Only able to use her free arm to push the hanging vines out of her way, she realized how it was going to be harder to reach the river now that she had company. Getting hit in the face by a randomly swinging vine, she hisses in pain before angrily shoving past it.

Just as Ariel hears the sound of the roaring water from the river, one of the many bushes that cover the forest floor rustles beside her. Curious, she leans forward to peer into the bush. Then two childlike figures come jumping out of the bush, right for her. Startled by the quick movement, the lioness steps back only to trip on a thick tree root and fall straight back. The snarf in her arms is shaken awake by the rough movement and yowls in surprise, jumping from her arms to hide behind her cloak.

Standing above her are two faces that Ariel thought she would never see again. WilyKit and WilyKat stood above her crumpled form with wide beaming smiles on their faces.

"There you are, Snarf," Kit laughed at the scared creature. Kat laughed along with his twin sister before adding,

"You should know better than to go wandering off on your own, the others will not think before leaving you here on your own."

Not really listening to what they were saying, the lioness could only stare wide-eyed at the perfectly healthy and happy twin wildcats that she had met in the slums. _How did they . . . others?_

"Hey, Snarf, who's your new friend?" Kat questioned as he pointed at her.

"Yeah, Snarf, aren't you going to introduce us," the young female wildcat said.

The 'Snarf' only lifted its nose, acting snooty to the prankster twins before stepping out from behind her. Completely ignoring the wildcats, the bushy-tailed pet jumped back into Ariel's lap and laid across her thighs, pushing its face into her warm stomach. The lioness huffed at Snarf's sass before looking back up to the twins. Pulling her hood down, Ariel tried to give her best smile, hoping they would remember her.

A collective gasp escaped both their mouths as they openly stared at her muzzled face. Horrified but intrigued, WilyKat extended his arm and lightly touched the muzzle with the edge of his knuckles. When all the wildcat could feel was cold metal he quickly retracted his paw.

"Ariel?" WilyKit whispered with watery eyes.

The older lion nodded her head solemnly. At her head movement, the twins looked to each other before simultaneously launching themselves at her. "Ari!"

The sudden weight of the wildcats knocked the lioness down from her upright position, effectively knocking the wind out of her lungs. WilyKit and WilyKat wrapped their small arms around her neck, holding onto her tightly as they buried their noses into her chest. Snarf whined at suddenly being in the middle of a tight embrace and wiggled to get free.

Wrapping her arms around the emotional cubs, the lioness could only pat their heads as they cried into her armor.

"We thought you were dead, just like everybody else!" Kit sobbed. "Or worse, taken by those nasty lizards!" His sister finished for him.

The lioness shook her head and pushed herself to sit upright again. Lightly shifting the wildcats to lean away from her, she takes a paw and does her best to wipe away the young wildcats' tears. The twins leaned into Ariel's opened paw as she touched their faces, purring at her soft caress.

With innocent eyes, the wildcats watched as the lioness patted their head and wiped their tear-stained cheeks, trying to calm them down. Once their eyes were dry, the young cubs took a deep breath before speaking.

"You always know what to do, Ari," Kat sighed as he stood up.

"You were always the one who got us out of trouble," Kit piped in from where she sat. The twins looked to each other again, looked back at Ariel, then back to each other.

_Are these kids psychic or what._ Seeming to come to a telepathic agreement, the wildcats lightly nod their heads and start approaching the sitting lioness.

The male sibling circles around Ariel's form, examing her muzzle once again, while Kit sits in front of her, lightly holding her muzzle, forcing her head to stay still.

"Ah, so the muzzle has a lock?" WilyKat mused behind her, "Well, Ari, you're in luck. Cause I just so happen to be a master at picking locks." The confidence in the male cub's voice was unmistakable, but Ariel was still skeptical. Raising a black brow, she shoots Kit a look, silently asking if her brother was correct, to which the female wildcat shrugs her shoulders.

A paw shoots out and touches the back of her head, tilting it forward slightly, giving Kat a good view of the lock. Ariel hears the clinking of small bits of metal as WilyKat attempts to pick the lock of her muzzle. Staring down at her lap, the lioness watches the snarf that has not moved from its position since earlier. The snarf still sat comfortably across her thighs, but now just sat silently watching the expanse of trees to their left.

His ears were perked, listening intently, and the fur at the base of his neck was standing up.

She places a hand over his raise hackles and tries to smooth the fur down, but the small animal is frozen stiff under her touch. And from where Ariel is holding him, she can feel his quickened heartbeat. _That's not a good sign, _she warns herself. Trusting the survival instincts of Snarf, the lion briefly closes her eyes and focuses all her senses on listening for any approaching dangers.

Ariel does her best to ignore the clinking of metal, she pricked her ears for the sound of an approaching enemy.

The distinct sound of footfalls and the thrashing of vines echoed into her ears.

Suddenly alert, the lioness throws her head back, stopping Kat from unlocking the muzzle. Ariel scoops up the snarf and shoves it into WilyKit's arms before pulling her up to stand on her feet. The twins whine at her abrupt movements, but both quickly quiet down as they hear the suspicious sounds of shuffling leaves. Taking a protective stance, the female ThunderCat pushes the twins behind her and pulls her hood back over her head.

"W-What is it?" Kit stutters.

"Is it a lizardman?" Kat asks.

Not knowing what was coming herself, Ariel reaches into her knapsack and pulls out her shield. As she slipped her arm through the vambrace, a large cloaked figure steps out from behind a tree. The wildcat cubs squeaked in fear and hid behind the larger lioness.

Ariel curls her lips and lets out her most threatening growl as the hooded figure stepped closer. Holding the shield in front of her, the lioness stalks forward, ready to fight. The figure was larger than her, both in height and build, but she wasn't threatened.

_If I can beat Leopold and Gurr with my bare paws, this should be easy, _she thought to herself boldly.

Then the hooded figure drew a gun from his side and pointed the barrel straight at her. _Or maybe not._

Before the figure has a chance to pull the trigger, Ariel reels her arm back and shoots forward, throwing the shield straight at them. Momentarily stunned, the cloaked figure drops his weapon and tries to block the shield. But he moved too slowly. The shield hits the figure in the side before ricocheting back to the lioness. Catching the flying disk, Ariel reattaches the shield before launching herself toward her opponent.

Then a shrill cry meets her ears.

"Wait!" WilyKit screams.

Both figures halted, stunned by the wildcat's sudden cry. The lioness peers over her shoulder at the seemingly defenseless cubs.

"Tygra? Is that you?" WilyKit asks shyly.

At the mention of the royal prince's name, Ariel feels every muscle in her body went rigid. The figure standing in front of her pulls the hood back, revealing the striped orange and white face of the first prince. Taken aback, the lioness stares at the prince's face for two heartbeats before falling to her knees.

Bowing in submission, Ariel leans her head to the ground and prays to any god that is watching that Prince Tygra will forgive her for her misgivings.

"Kit? Kat? Where have you been, Cheetara and I have been looking for you for the past few hours," the tiger scolds the cubs. "Lion-O is already annoyed that we are watching you kids, so please don't make him any angrier than he already is."

Hearing the older prince speak of his adoptive brother, the lioness slightly raises her head from the ground.

_Lion-O as well? How is this possible, I thought that Grune, that Mumm-Ra succeeded._

"And for Thundera's sake, please tell your friend to get off the ground! Who is he anyway?"

"Well first of all Tygra," Kat starts, "This 'he' is a 'she.' And 'she' is our friend from Thundera. Her name is Ariel."

The lioness slowly stands to her feet but keeps her head tilted downwards.

"Oh yeah," Tygra hisses, "then why doesn't she tell me her name herself, huh?" The tiger rubs his sore side as he kneels to pick up the blaster he had dropped, glaring daggers at the hooded figure.

WilyKit bristled at the older male's cold and insulting tone. Squeezing Snarf between her arms, the wildcat hisses back. "Because she can't talk with the muzzle on her face!"

The tiger's eyes widen as he shifts his gaze from the young wildcat cubs to the hooded lioness. Lifting her head to make eye-contact with the prince, Ariel reaches up and lightly pushes the hood off, exposing her muzzled visage.

With the tight restraint still fully locked around her head, she can only lift her lips to a sheepish smile without putting too much pressure on her facial muscles.

"I'm sorry," the tiger apologizes truthfully.

Ariel shakes her head and politely bows her head to show that she was sorry as well.

"Now if you'll excuse me Tygra," WilyKat huffs from behind them. "I need to finish unlocking the muzzle from around my dear friend's mouth." Looking over her shoulder, the lioness watches the wildcat pull out a small metal pick from the small pouch on his belt.

"You can do that at camp," Tygra orders resolutely. "Right now we need to get back before Lion-O goes off to find Mumm-Ra on his own." Hitching his thumb in the direction he had just come from, Tygra turns around starts making his way back through the thick forest of trees and vines. Ariel looks to the twins who both shrugged their shoulders before following after the tiger, their tails flicking wildly as they ran.

_Guess that means I follow too,_ she huffed to herself as she places her shield back into her bag and proceeds to chase after the wildcat twins and large tiger.

WilyKit found carrying Snarf too tiring, so she let the small pet drop to the floor with an abrupt thud. The small ball of fur hissed at the retreating form of the small wildcats, but upon noticing the lagging lioness, started mewling for her attention. _The poor thing._

Grabbing Snarf by the scruff of its neck, Ariel raises the mahogany-colored creature to cradle it in her arms as she had earlier. The small creature purred in content as it buried its face into the crook of her elbow.

The walk to their camp wasn't long, and the view that awaited her was not what Ariel was expecting.

On a large tree root, sat a long-legged, yellow furred, and beautifully spotted female cheetah. The lioness openly starred at the spotted beauty, her face seeming familiar to her for some reason. Then it hit her. It was the cheetah she had seen the night of the celebration when Grune had returned, the same one that had fought alongside the prince's to protect the imprisoned the lizardmen from cruel punishment.

Ariel steps forward to approach the cheetah when she notices a body standing out of her peripheral vision. Leaning against the base of a tree, seemingly brooding and gloomy, stood the fiery-maned crown prince himself. And from the scowl that marred his face, he did not seem pleased to see her.

The young prince angrily stalked up to them, eyes zeroed in on the cloaked lioness.

"Just great Tygra," the younger prince quipped as he stepped closer to their spot. "You go out looking for the two extra mouths we have to feed, and you come back with three. Are we some sort of babysitting service now?"

The older tiger growled at his brother's display of disrespect and lack of remorse. But he didn't agitate Lion-O further.

"She's hurt Lion-O," Tygra explained. "The cubs want to help her, so who am I to stop them?" Lion-O glared down at the wildcat twins who audibly gulped under the lions stare. Then the lion prince shifted his hard look to the hidden lioness who stood a few steps back.

_What a great welcoming committee,_ Ariel thought sarcastically.

Not wanting to be told to leave, the lioness tried to placate the lion prince's nerves by bowing slightly. Lion-O hmphs at the lioness's unspoken submission before stepping back to go back to brooding on his tree. The tension in the air was thick as the tiger growled lowly at his brother before stalking off to sit with the cheetah.

The snarf in her arms wiggles erratically, nearly falling out of her hold, but she was able to maneuver the small creature on the ground safely. As soon as Snarf's paws hit the forest floor, he went bounding in Lion-O's direction.

_Should have known. There were always rumors that the lion prince took his nursemaid with him everywhere, even to war meetings from what Papa told me._

Staring after the cute and fluffy pet, Ariel jumped out of her skin when two paws wrapped around her wrists.

"C'mon Ari!" Kit pleaded at her as she tugged on her wrist.

"Hurry and sit down so we can get that muzzle off!" Kat insisted as he dragged her forward.

Following the wildcat twins, Ariel got down to her knees before pulling her hood down. The air around the camp got silent as the lioness proceed to take her cloak completely off. Moving the strap of the knapsack off her shoulder, she did her best to ignore the multiple eyes that openly stared at her. Leaning her head forward, she braces her paws on the floor so she doesn't fall on her face.

WilyKat quickly set to work, fiddling and jamming his small metal rod into the open hole of the lock mechanism. As the small cub jerked the pick in every direction, the lioness patiently waited, praying that she would hear the satisfying click of the muzzle unlocking. Kneeling forward, Ariel felt the burning sensation of someone staring holes into the side of her head. Peering her eyes as far as she could, the lioness can only see the feet of the other cats, standing off to the side, watching the scene.

Closing her eyes in embarrassment, the lioness could feel her face heating up at being caught in such a vulnerable state. Humiliated and traumatized at being stared at, Ariel was so stuck in her head that she didn't hear Kat unfasten the lock. Only after the muzzle dropped from her face did she realize she was free. Reaching up with one paw, she rubs her newly exposed jaw and nose. The places where the muzzle was connected to her face was incredibly sore, but after stretching her jaw, the soreness started to ebb away.

Whipping her head up, the lioness turns around to give WilyKat the widest smile. Her cheeks burned at her sudden facial expression, but couldn't help but feel elated as she was finally free from her confinement.

The giddy wildcat jumped up cheering at his success, then tackles Ariel. Again. But this time she catches him and stays upright.

"Thanks, Kat," even to her, her voice sounded rough, so she cleared her throat before speaking again. "Ever since those lizards wrapped that muzzle around my face, I haven't been able to eat or drink properly." Starved and thirsty, the lioness reaches over the male cub for her knapsack. "Anyone want some braxenberries?"

Shuffling through the side pocket of her knapsack, Ariel pulls out a handful of said berries, her leftover fish jerky, and her water flask. The kittens brighten at the mention of food and quickly dive for the berries. Chuckling at the twins' enthusiasm, she tears off bits of her jerky and carefully chews it down with her sore jaw.

Biting down on the meat, the lioness groaned in delight at the taste of dried meat on her tongue. Then she unscrewed the top of the flask and drank the entire bottle in one go. Satisfied with her small snack, Ariel sighs in contentment before shifting her gaze to the three figures standing off to the side.

The lioness quickly jumped to her feet and bowed her head to the royal cats.

"Your Highness', my name is Ari-"

"You don't need to do that you know," Tygra interrupted her. "There is no Thundera, so we are not royals anymore. Well, Lion-O is now the King of the ThunderCats, but other than that we are all equal."

Blinking at the tiger's words, Ariel stood back up and opened her mouth to finish her introduction, but was interrupted again.

"How did you get here?" the cheetah asked as she pushed past the tiger and lion.

The lioness pondered for a moment before answering.

"I escaped Thundera through the mountain pass, and I followed a path to a village right outside the city. The village was ransacked, no doubt the lizards doing, but I was able to come upon a map of Third Earth. Following the River of Despair east, I entered the Green Canyon and now I'm here."

The cheetah seemingly perked up at the mention of a map.

"You have a map?" she questioned.

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the neatly folded map and extended it out to the curious cheetah.

The tall female shot Ariel a thankful smile before taking the map.

"I'm Cheetara, by the way."

"Ariel," the lioness introduced herself. Cheetara's smile brightened at the lioness as she started unfolding the map. Just as she was about to speak further, a hard voice broke the moment.

"We don't need a map," Lion-O barked from beside Cheetara. "And we don't need a map reader. The lizard army's trail is still fresh and if we keep following it, we will find Mumm-Ra!"

The lion prince's statement caught Ariel off-guard.

_Did he just tell me to get lost,_ she thought indignantly. A low growl left her throat before she had a chance to stop it.

"And pray, Lord Lion-O, what is the plan to stop Mumm-Ra," she spat at the spoiled prince.

"Don't need a plan," Lion-O answered haughtily. "I just need to run him through with the Sword of Omens. After what he did to father, it's the least I can do for him."

The respect and admiration that Ariel had been holding for the fiery-haired prince, disappeared. _He's nothing more than an angry and overconfident_ _cub. What happened to the merciful and noble leader that defended the tortured lizardmen back in the stockade?_

Ariel huffed at the lion's arrogant attitude. Lion-O growled at her. She took a step closer to the male lion, tilting her head up slightly to keep eye-contact. The lion prince wasn't much taller than her since she came up to his nose, but with their proximity, she needed to look up to glare at him.

"And where exactly are you going, Ariel?" Tygra inquired as he pushed himself in between the two lions.

Taking a moment to calm herself, Ariel responded, "East. To the Mountains of the Ancients. My clan resides there. I was hoping to recruit some lions and stake out the lizard army. My family was caught, thanks to Grune, and I just want to get them back."

As she spoke, the horrible memories of watching her mother get beaten and her friends enslaved came flooding back. The fear and sadness along with them. Looking away from the pitying look that the other's shot her, Ariel fiddled with the pendant of her necklace out of habit.

"Tell you what," the tiger prince reasoned as he extended a paw onto her shoulder, "since you're here, why don't you travel with us? I know we don't exactly have a full proof battle strategy, but we could use a warrior like you with us."

Surprised at the male's offer, the lioness looked to the twins behind her who vigorously nodded their heads, sending her pleading looks to agree. Mulling it over, Ariel thought of all the reasons that she really shouldn't join them.

_I don't want to be lead to my death by a revenge crazed prince _she nodded to herself as she bit her lip in contemplation. She turned to face Tygra and politely decline his offer, but when she saw the appalled and insulted look on Lion-O's face, she quickly changed her mind.

"Alright," she answered cockily. "But I will leave and take the cubs with me when I feel like our lives are in danger."

"Understood," the older male agreed.

"Yay!" WilyKit and WilyKat shouted.

Smirking at the still flabbergasted lion, Ariel turns her attention back to the cubs and begins packing up her knapsack. Hearing the young lion stomp past her, the smirk on her face grew.

Traveling with the group turned out to be much more pleasant than she had originally thought. Lion-O was still upset at her challenging attitude, but Ariel got along very well with the others.

Cheetara, as she had guessed, was a cleric under Jaga. And from her knowledge, she was the only one to survive the attack. The female cats walked together most of the trip, joking and laughing about their lives back in Thundera.

The twins joked around the entire time, hiding in bushes to jump out of to try and scare the older felines. They always got a laugh out of her. Lion-O was not amused. But their incessant rambling about the lost city of El Dara greatly amused her even more.

Tygra was courteous to her, but not overly friendly. He spoke a few words, asking her about her family and where she lived but nothing in-depth.

Lion-O straight up ignored her presence. Never acknowledged her or looked in her direction. The only time he spoke to her was to criticize her for feeding Snarf. The lioness shook in anger at the immature male's antics but reminded herself that he is the King and he deserves her respect.

_He needs to stop acting like a spoiled brat and think about his people before he lets his pride blind him and lead him to an early death. Honestly, how did I develop a crush on this tom?_

Sighing at her silly feelings that use to cloud her mind, Ariel ventured alongside Cheetara as they pathed their way out of the canyon. As they walked, the lion decided to study her companions. Lion-O, she noticed, still wore his blue tunic and dark-colored trousers from Thundera, but now he had the Golden Gauntlet and Sword of Omens strapped to his hip. Tygra had changed dramatically.

She couldn't tell immediately, due to his cloak covering his body, but when he stretched and jumped over fallen tree trunks, she saw his battle garb. The tiger's battle suit was a dark green, nearly identical to the color of the leaves and vines that hung overhead, but it seemed to provide considerable padding. His handgun was holstered to his thigh and his whip hung on his opposite hip.

Then the cheetah who walked beside her was easy to examine. Wearing a tightly cropped brown agility top and a pair of shorts that had designed suspender reaching from mid-thigh to ankle, Cheetara probably felt no resistance making her swift fighting style very easy.

Somehow, Kat and Kit got their grubby hands on new clothes that fit their styles very well. Kit's off the shoulder purple top and flowery pink skirt captured her free spirit nature. Ariel also noticed the satchel hanging at her waist, which probably held her hypnotic flute. Kat had a more adventurer vibe with his many pockets and satchel's hanging off his long brown sleeve jacket and pants.

Looking down at her clothes, the lion poked at her chest plate and tight stretchy pants, wondering if she had enough protection if she got into a real fight. As she stared down at herself, she failed to notice the cats in front of her stop. It was only after she walked into a solid object did she finally lookup. And when emerald eyes met sapphire, she stiffened up before backing up a few steps. Lion-O stood firm and merely sent her a brief glare before he spoke to the group.

"It's getting dark so we'll make camp here and pick-up the trail in the morning," Lion-O commands. Somehow as they had walked through the forest, the sun had moved from being high above to now barely peeking above the horizon, filling the sky with beautiful colors.

WilyKit and WilyKat dramatically fall to the ground in exhaustion. Snarf soon following their lead.

The lioness sighs as she made her way past the tiger and lion, who had begun bickering on what should be done for food. Walking towards a tree to lean on, Ariel takes her knapsack off before digging through it to find a knife and the twine. Once she found them, she began looking for somewhere she could hunt.

The sound of nearby splashing stream caught her attention. Tying the twine at the end of a knife, the lioness peered into the water, scanning it for any possible signs of life. And just her luck, several types of fish were swimming in the steady flowing water. Kneeling on the bank, Ariel waited patiently for the right moment to strike. When she saw a fishing swim away from its group, the lioness threw the knife.

Having done this many times back in the Kalahari village when she was younger, a huge grin spread across her face as the blade met its target. The lioness reeled the knife back towards her and placed the dead fish to side. She repeated this process six more times before she decided what she caught was enough.

The fish were mildly smaller than what was served in the butcher shops back in Thundera, but they would fill their marginally empty stomachs. Ariel took the pile of fish in her arms and made her way back to camp.

The bickering between Tygra and Lion-O had not yet ceased, but now they fought over who was fit to be leading the group. Cheetara and the twins stood off to the side, trying to start a fire as the sun continued to set.

Annoyed at the two males over-inflated egos, Ariel puckered her lips together and blew a whistle that made even her ears ring. Lion-O and Tygra were startled at her sudden appearance and noise, they both jumped closer together, nearly hugging each other. Cheetara, WilyKit, WilyKat, and Snarf covered their ears at the deafening sound.

"Now if you two ladies are done fighting," Ariel lectured in an irritated tone. "I brought dinner." Shoving her way past the larger cats, the lioness takes a seat next to the cheetah, who helped her layout the fish to begin cooking them.

After every cat had finished their meal, they all started huddling up close to the large fire. It wasn't long after dark that everyone found their spot to sleep for the night.

Ariel had laid down close to the fire, but put some distance between herself and her companions; she knew she could be an active sleeper and didn't want to jostle anyone awake by accident. Closing her eyes and trying to put her mind to rest, she felt two very small, but warm bodies nestling into either side of her.

Looking down, she saw a pair of young content wildcats snuggling into her ribcage. WilyKit and WilyKat had taken the liberty of being her heaters for the night. And they got comfortable very quickly against her.

The older lioness didn't have the heart to tell them to move since their breathing had already begun to even out, and they each wrapped one of their small arms around her tawny waist.

Shaking her head in resignation, Ariel tiredly sighed before laying back down and closing her eyes. But it took a while for her to find sleep. Like the night before, it evaded her no matter what she tried. Restless and squished between two fragile bodies, she gave up trying to force herself to sleep. She looked up to the stars and began to hum a lullaby her mother had once sung to her when she was younger.

The melody vibrated through the quiet night air, and for a moment, Ariel thought she heard someone move, but she disregarded it. As she ran her fingers through the hair of the wildcats that laid beside her, her humming grew louder but remained soft enough not to wake anyone.

Humming the harmony, the lioness began to remember the old days back in the clan village when her mother used to be doting and caring towards her. She remembered how viciously protective she was when Ariel was insulted for her black hair. Her lips rose and her teeth peeked out as a smile broke out on her face.

But she continued humming. Stray tears fell out of the corner of her eyes as the memory morphed into the image of her mothering laying beaten and unmoving on the cold concrete. A choked sound left her throat as the vision got stuck in her head.

The air grew still at her sudden halt, but the lioness couldn't help it. She hadn't given herself a chance to grieve since she had escaped, and the emotions she had successfully bottled up were now overflowing. Taking a deep breath to push her nerves down, Ariel tried to swallow down the lump that formed in her throat. She took another breath before singing,

"Please hold my hand, don't let go, cause I love you more than anything. Hold my hand, stay with me, stay here inside your dream. Hold me tight and someday you'll see, just how much you mean to me," her soft voice cracked. Sniffling and wiping away a few tears, the lioness finishes her song, "Just hold my hand."

She looked to the sky, beyond the swinging branches of the trees, and up to the stars overhead, and prayed silently.

"Please let them be safe. I want to hold my mother's hand again, for a few more years if I can. So please, I'm begging for whoever can hear me, help me find them, and bring them home."

The only thing that answered her hushed whisper was the crack of the fire at her feet and shaking trees. Emotionally and physically exhausted the lioness closed her eyes again, and this time sleep found her.

Unbeknownst to Ariel, during her little song, she had an audience. A certain blue-eyed lion sat upright from his comfortable position when he heard the sound of voices. But then he saw it was just the soft humming of their new group member. He debated on whether to speak out to her to tell her to shush, but when he heard her sniffling and smelt the salty scent of tears, he firmly kept his mouth shut. Instead, he listened to her short song and he felt her sorrow as she sang out to the stars. Lion-O even felt his eyes start to sting from unshed tears, but he rubbed his eyes roughly to push them away.

The young king stared silently at the black-haired lioness as she fell quiet. When he was sure Ariel had fallen asleep, Lion-O shifted to lay back down. He too had a difficult time getting to sleep, but as he shut his eyes, the sound of the lioness's soft lullaby in his head soon lulled him off to dreamland.

* * *

Waking up at dawn was unpleasant, to say the least since the lioness was roughly awoken by Snarf. The nursemaid found joy in knocking the wind out of her by jumping on her exposed stomach. _He may be small, but he is heavier than he looks._

After catching a few more fish for breakfast, the group broke camp and started following the lizardmen trail. While on their way, the lioness abandoned her knapsack, deciding to just wear her cloak, and clip her knife and shield to her waist, but kept her vambrace on. She placed her flask and twine into the pocket on the inside of the cloak.

Pursuing the foot trail for a few hours, the lively bunch soon exited the forested canyon and entered the Badlands which lined the outskirts of the Sand Sea.

Not a single cloud crossed the sky as the sun lifted high above them, and with no dense sets of trees to hang overhead, the ThunderCats were quickly getting overheated.

Hours of walking through a seemingly neverending desert, the group sat in the shadow of a tall eroded rock, seeking reprise from the harsh sun. The wildcat siblings were breathing erratically, fanning themselves to stay cool. Cheetara kneeled to scrounge whatever supplies she could from her already empty bag. The lioness saw the cheetah's struggle and offered the remaining water from her flask that had refilled that morning.

The cheetah shook her head and instead offered it to the cubs, who greedily gulped down the cold liquid. Licking her dry lips, Ariel looked at the environment.

_Not a single living thing for miles, not to mention cool water. And somehow the wind blew away the trail!_

"We've lost the trail, Lion-O," Tygra states matter of factly.

"And our supplies are dangerously low," Cheetara piped in from beside her.

Ariel nodded before adding, "The weather is too hot for us to continue. At this rate, we'll faint of heat exhaustion before we reach the Sand Sea."

The hard look in Lion-O's was unforgiving and unyielding. "I don't care, we keep moving forward!" Huffing at the princeling's stubborn behavior, Ariel reaches to take out the map from her pocket to try and figure out which way they should go. Then Snarf made a loud surprised noise, grabbing her and the twins' attention.

"What is that?!" WilyKat exclaims. Bewildered, the lioness takes a few steps forward to examine what exactly she was looking at.

Not far from where their position stood a wide archway made of stone, and beyond the archway was the cascading golden waves of the Sand Sea.

"Snarf just found the Sand Sea," Lion-O declared proudly. "Mumm-Ra's Lair must just be on the other side."

The twins blew past her, sprinting to the shiny water.

_They always did have a fascination with anything gold,_ the lioness chuckled to herself. Chasing after the twins, Ariel marveled at the expanse of the never calm waves of the Sand Sea.

Tygra called out, "You see a way around it?"

Swiveling her head from side to side, the lioness could only see the short shore that they stood on.

Beside her, the twins gasped as they looked out into the rapidly moving sand. "I think I see something better," WilyKat responds as he points out to the shallows. The lioness looks out onto the waves and squints her eyes from the extreme brightness the waves projected from the sun overhead. For a split second, Ariel believes she must be seeing things because she saw a feast floating on the waves.

"Food," Lion-O exclaims. The whole lot enthusiastically cheered before jumping into the Sand Sea, pushing through the fluid sand to get to the food. But Ariel hung back. Her stomach growled, but her logical reasoning won over her hunger.

_Why would there be such good food left in the middle of nowhere,_ she pondered as she stalked through the sand. The lioness watched in silence as the other cats ate their fill. Off to the side, Ariel saw a huge formation of rocks shooting out of the water, but she didn't notice anything strange or dangerous nearby so she calmed down slightly. A red-colored fruit floated towards her and the lioness gave in to her hunger to eagerly bite into the flesh of the juicy fruit.

"Hey," Cheetara spoke out amongst the feasting, "anyone else wondering where all this came from."

Still chewing on her fruit, Ariel could only nod her head to the cheetah before turning to examine the expanse of water around her again. Then she saw a fast movement to her right.

Something was swimming through the water towards them, and fast. Acting out of instinct, Ariel leaps for the twins and Snarf, "Watch out!"

But it was too late.

A net closed around the group, smashing them together and trapping them. Ariel feels a knee connect with her lower back and a skull knock into her throat. Her arms are caught between the openings of the net and her feet and stuck underneath someone. Terrified screams fill the air as her group was thrown several stories high before making a crash landing onto a wooden surface. Confused and in pain, Ariel does her best to sit up to get a good look at their captors.

_Fishmen_. And they were pirates.

The lioness growls threateningly at the looming figures that held harpoon guns between their webbed fingers.

"Quite the catch I'd say," a fishman chortled from above them. The cats struggled in their confinement, wiggling to get free. Nearly popping her shoulder out of her socket Ariel attempts to reach for her knife, a sharp harpoon in her face made her cease all movement.

"What's all that racket," a rough voice yelled from below deck. "That better be the Ramlak you spineless jellyfish have been carrying on about." A scarred up fishman stepped out with his peg leg, and dismissively sneer at the entrapped ThunderCats. "Another worthless haul. Take what the crew doesn't eat of them, and turn it into chum!" The fishman beside this 'captain' figure grinned evilly at the felines, grinding his sharpened knives together.

"Whiskers," Lion-O hissed from underneath her.

In a flash, the nest was cut, but webbed fingers quickly grabbed hold of her wrists, stopping her from grabbing the knife and shield at her sides. The cloak that was strapped around her throat was roughly pulled off of her. Ariel yowled as she wrestled to get out of her captors hold, but it was no use. The others were put into very similar positions and shoved down to the ground.

The group was crowded together and bound with rope. When the fishmen released the cats, they immediately started struggling to break free from their restraints. Ariel pushed hard against the shoulder of Lion-O and WilyKit who sat beside her, shuffling to get some room to be able to reach her knife.

"That bait was meant for the beast," the old scarred fishman fumed.

"I am Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats," the young prince bellowed from beside her. "And I order you release us."

_Could have asked a little bit gentler,_ Ariel thought sarcastically.

Ariel saw a surprised look cross the one-eyed fish. Then the whole crew started laughing as if Lion-O had just said the funniest joke in the world.

"It talks, and it's still got some fight in it," the red-bearded fish grinned. "Well, Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats, I am Koinelius Tunar, captain of this ship, and I order you fileted."

The fat red-scaled fishman beside Koinelius started sharpening his blades against each other. "Let's start with the little ones. Their meat will be the most deliciously tender."

The wildcat twins shook in fear and whimpered beside her. Annoyed and angry, the black-haired feline roared in outrage.

"Over my dead body," she seethed, baring her teeth viciously.

The chef took a step back at the lioness's unexpected outburst.

Then the ship tipped to the side, knocking everyone off balance, and the unmistakable sound of an explosion rang through the air.

From the Sand Sea, rose long monstrous green tentacles. They wrapped around the limb of a standing fishman and proceed to drag him from the boat into the deep abyss of the Sand Sea.

"Ramlak, at long last my wretched quarry returns," Koinelius exclaimed as he hung on the edge of the levitating ship.

The ship was pure chaos. Green limbs shot out of the sand, wrapping around anything it came into contact with. The once confident fishmen that stood over them were now quaking in fear.

And the ThunderCats were left completely defenseless. Ariel watched in terror and astonishment as the tentacles wreaked havoc on the ship and its crew. And though the Ramlak might not have had any eyes, that she could see, it seemed to navigate through touch and feel.

She started feeling the rope move again, this time it wasn't a struggle it was a decisive movement. Looking over her shoulder, Ariel saw that a harpoon gun had fallen close to Cheetara and Tygra, and together they rubbed the rope against the sharpened blade of the weapon. And through the two feline's efforts, the rope fell to floor swiftly.

Ariel jumped to her feet and moved for cover, yet the Ramlak was quick and grabbed the lioness by her ankle and lifted her into the air. The slimy tentacle coiled tightly around her anklebone, the feeling nearly cutting off the circulation from her foot. Yelping in surprise, Ariel moved without thinking and took the shield from her side to swing at the green limb. The skin of the beast seemed to be very delicate because as her shield made contact with its flesh, it cut deeply enough that blue blood came gushing out. The Ramlak moaned in pain and released her.

Falling headfirst to the floor, Ariel curled up into a fetal position and extended the shield to protect herself. The hard impact of when she hit the ground forced the air out of her and made her forearm feel like it would break. She groaned in pain before standing up again. Still dazed, the lioness had clear enough vision to see that she was not the only one to get picked up into the air.

Lion-O had shifted his gauntlet on and hurriedly pulled out the Sword of Omens. The legendary sword hummed and growled, as if it was alive, and extended from a small dagger into a long rapier.

"ThunderCats, Ho!"

The blade cleanly cut through the beast's tentacle, severing it from the whole of its body, retracting itself back below the golden waves. In awe and inspired, Ariel raced to aide her King against the Ramlak. A green limb from an above dove at her, she barrel-rolled out of the way just in time and made to throw her shield at the offending tentacle. Halting halfway, the thought of missing the moving target crossed her mind. _I don't want my only defendable weapon to be lost at sea_. And as handy as the knife might have been, Ariel did not want to come into direct contact with a tentacle unless she had to.

As the lioness was lost in thought, another tentacle reached out toward her again, and just as it wrapped around her waist, Tygra's blaster sounded in the air. In a green flash, the end of the green limb fell to the wooden floor wiggling weakly, and then a spectacular idea popped in the lioness's head. _A gun!_

Looking around, Ariel tried to find anything she could shoot or project at the beast's long limbs, like one of the harpoon guns. A movement out of the corner of her caught her attention. A small fishman sat huddle between two large wooden crates, and in his grasp was gun. The lioness shot forward, jumping and evading the swift-moving tentacles, doing her best to not get snagged in its tight hold again. She stooped down to eye level with the fishman and with her best smile asked, "Mind if I borrow that?"

The shaking fishman practically shoved the weapon into her chest. Standing back up, the lioness gripped the white blaster tightly. It was much larger than Tygra's with a larger grip and longer barrel, but it was thinner than the one's she had seen the lizardmen carry when they stormed into Thundera. As she held it in her hand she noticed it felt more like a crossbow than anything, it just didn't have the extended limbs where the string was attached.

She braced the stock of the weapon against her shoulder and rested her face down to better look down the barrel. Lifting the end of the weapon, Ariel aimed with her best intent to sever some limbs. With her finger relaxed on the trigger, the lioness let out a shallow breath before firing. A powerful ball of plasma shot out and flew past the tentacle she was aiming for. Ariel gritted her teeth in anger before trying again, this time the white ball of energy hit the mark, cutting cleanly through the green limb.

Pain filled moans echoed from the sea, and the green tentacles that had wrapped around the ship began to recoil and sink back into the golden sand.

Hanging over the deck, Koinelius hollered after the retreating Ramlak. "Run, you coward! You can't escape me forever! I'll follow you straight to the flaming pit of Magmel before I give you up!"

Ariel shook her head at the old codfish's antics. _Talk about crazy._ The lioness walked behind Cheetara and Tygra who followed after their King to confront the fishman captain.

"Now, what were we talking about before the interruption," Lion-O scowled.

"I believe we were discussing how we'd filet you, but if I had known you were such fine warriors, I would have gladly served my first mate to you on a silver platter," the old fishman reasoned.

Ariel's eyes widened the sudden change of heart from the once rude and ruthless sea captain. And so was everyone else on the boat.

Turning to his crew, Koinelius hollered, "Listen up fishies, these fine fellows are our new shipmates. So treat them like you would your scaly brothers! And let's fix the little ones with some food."

The older fish took Lion-O by the shoulder and started leading him away from the group. WilyKit and Kat happily exclaimed at the mere mention of food and followed after the red catfish chef down to the kitchen. The white and orange koi fish she had seen stiffen at the mention of being served on a silver platter, shoved a broom into Cheetara's hand before welcoming their group aboard.

Barreling past her, Tygra held a hand over his mouth as he ran for the railing of the boat.

"You okay there Tygra?" the lioness inquired the greenish male. The older tiger simply ignored her question and hung himself over the edge of the ship, puking. "Oh, your seasick."

Ariel openly laughed as the fierce tiger hurled himself onto the edge of the ship, spilling the contents of his stomach into the Sand Sea. Tygra lifted his face and sent her an evil look, but the evil quickly morphed into disgust as he bent over to throw up again. Her high pitched laughter just got louder. For a moment, Cheetara sent her a small glare but the mean look quickly melted away as she joined the lion in her laughter.

Then a scaly webbed handed gripped her by her wrist. Looking down, she noticed that the small fishman she had to borrow the blaster from was staring up at her. He stood a bit taller than the Wily twins, just barely coming up to her shoulder, but his wide shoulders made him look much stronger than his small stature portrayed.

"You have to come with me," a soft masculine voice said. "We're going to be sharpening the harpoons guns." Without further warning, the small koi fish dragged Ariel forward to the weapons arsenal. The lioness looked behind her, trying to send a pleading look to the Tygra and Cheetara.

But to her surprise, Cheetara was already busy, sweeping the sand off the deck, while Tygra stared at her waving at her mockingly. Ariel stuck her tongue out playfully at the tiger. He just laughed.

_This is payback,_ the lioness frowned at the shrinking figure of the male tiger.

Stepping foot into the arsenal, the small fish released her before taking a harpoon gun from its shelf and started sharpening the blade against a slab of metal that hung on the wall nearby. Shocked at the fishman's lack of direction, Ariel attempted to grab a weapon but paused when she realized she still held the white blaster. _This fishman's blaster._

"Oh yeah," she whispered. Tapping the small animal on the shoulder, Ariel extended the white blaster out to him as he looked over his shoulder. "Here's your gun back." The pale yellow fish shook his head at her before turning back to his work.

"You can keep it," he insisted, "I'm not much of a fighter anyway. I'd much rather be down in the kitchen helping around the kitchen, but the chef says I always get in his way. I'm just here because the captain is my grandfather. My name is Guppy by the way."

An 'oh' fell from the lioness's lips as she heard the young fish's explanation. And now that she looked at him, the faint yellow coloring of Koinelius and Guppy was very similar, except, the older fish captain had more battled scars marring his flesh, and a reddish fin-like beard forming on his chin. Not to mention this small koi fish had two pretty orange eyes and strong legs, while his grandfather hobbled around with a pegleg and glared down at others with his single beady eye.

"Well, if you don't want to be here, why stay?"

Guppy merely shrugged while facing the wall. A shrill screech sound reverberated through the air as the harpoons blade scratched against the metal sharpener. "Got nowhere else to go."

The confession shocked the lioness into silence. Not wanting to bother Guppy any longer, Ariel decided to keep her mouth shut and work at the task at hand. She carefully laid her new white blaster down and picked up a harpoon gun to sharpen.

The silence was deafening. For several minutes, there was so no sound except the high pitched screeching of metal against metal. Guppy's voice soon filled the void.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked suddenly.

Pausing, the young lion looked to the koi fish that stared at her solemnly. "Sure."

"If you were to be regularly called a disappointment by someone you loved, how would you feel?"

The loaded question caught Ariel off-guard, making her stop her ministration. She contemplated momentarily before realizing she had recognized the look in Guppy's eyes. They are the eyes of someone who has lost all meaning. It was the same look that was in her eyes when she was younger.

_I definitely know how it feels,_ she thought sadly.

"It feels like your heart is being squeezed so tightly that you can hardly breathe," she mumbled lowly as she slowly held a tight fist over her heart. Smiling sadly down at the young koi fish, Ariel patted his shoulder before continuing with her work. But Guppy ceased all movement beside her and kept gazing up at the older lion.

"One more question," Guppy choked out. "Do you know how to throw that?" He pointed at the knife strapped to her side.

Ariel raises an eyebrow at the odd question but nods her head in affirmation.

"Can you show me how to throw one? All the other guys play around by throwing knives at a dartboard, but they never let me play cause I always miss the board. Plus, I'm the captain's grandson, so no one likes me here. I just sit around all day and do what I'm told, I'm too small to help take care of the ship and too young to understand how things work."

_This sounds familiar._ Placing the harpoon gun back onto the proper shelf, Ariel begins to speak.

"Okay, we'll call it a trade then. Some knife-throwing lessons for your blaster don't seem fair but whatever." The lioness takes the gun out of Guppy's scaly hands and shelves it as well. "And, after I teach you, I'm going to tell you a little story. That okay?"

The small koi fish nods his head vigorously as he stares up at her with wide orange eyes filled with wonder.

Unsheathing the knife, Ariel walks up to an exposed part of the wooden wall and carves a medium-sized circle on it. She took several steps back towards Guppy and examined the circle, checking if it was a good-sized for a target.

"Okay," she beamed. "First, you have to place your less dominant foot forward, and brace your other dominant foot behind you so you can keep your balance." Ariel demonstrated by placing her left foot facing forward and her right foot back. "Second, keep your eye on the target, today you are going to aim for the inside of the circle. So take our less dominant arm and hold it out level with the ground, aimed straight towards the target. Next, lift the knife and hold it carefully by your shoulder," gripping the handle of the knife, Ariel looked to her student to make sure he was paying attention. "You don't want to hold it like a dart, instead try to hold it like a regular knife. Finally, you throw the knife. Now to get enough momentum, I usually take a step forward before driving the knife, but you don't have to. So swing your arm forward and release the knife just as your dominant arm becomes parallel with your less dominant one."

She turned back to her target and followed her instructions to demonstrate how it's done. Moving with muscle memory, the knife cut through the air and landed in the direct center of the target she made.

"Just like that," Ariel smiled. She turned back to Guppy and gave him an encouraging smile. "Think you can do that?" The small yellow fishman nodded his head slowly before approaching the target and wrenching the knife out of the wood. He placed himself where the lion had once stood and did his best to abide by her directions. Shaking in place, Guppy gulped audibly before he attempted to throw the knife. Ariel watched in amusement as he shut his eyes as he released the knife.

The audible sound of the knife wedging into the wood, much like hers had, made the lion's heart swell with pride.

"See that wasn't so hard now was it?" she teased lightly. Guppy finally opened his eyes and bared witness to the sight of the knife sticking out of the wall but within the circular target.

He openly gaped in surprise at his semi-accurate throw.

"You just got to have the proper training to do something that takes skill," the lion sighed as she patted his shoulder. "Just because you're not good at something, doesn't mean you can't **get **good at something. Take me for example, in Thundera it is frowned upon for there to be females warriors, especially female lion warriors. I remember when my Papa first took me to fight training for cubs, all the boys ignored me. And when it was time to spar, I never got a partner. Even my brother chose to fight with someone else. I almost lost all hope, it was honestly one of the lowest points in my life, and I was merely nine years old."

Guppy stood silently, patiently listening to the lioness's story. "What happened?"

"I met someone. An older ThunderCat who taught me to fight. He happened to be passing by the training grounds, and he saw me huddled up alone in a corner, watching all the other cubs. But he didn't only teach me how to fight, he also taught me to always believe in myself. He told me the toughest battles in life are fought within a person, and unless you know your self-worth, you will always lose."

Ariel grew silent as she stared into the eyes of the young koi fish who reminded her so much of her younger self. The lioness watches as the light in Guppy's eyes brighten as he starts to connect the dots that she had drawn for him.

The young koi fish opens his mouth to speak but a sudden jerk of the ship sends him, Ariel, and all of the harpoon guns into disarray. Thrown into the metal slab in front of her, the lioness feels the rusty taste of blood on her tongue. She licked her lip and felt that her lip had split when she hit the wall. Cursing at herself, she looks over to check on Guppy, but he was already standing at full attention. She tried to stand back on her feet, but the ship lurched to the side again knocking her off balance.

_Why do I have a bad feeling all of a sudden?_

She pushed herself off the wall and pushed all the scattered harpoon guns out of her way as she made her way to the door. Stooping down Ariel picked up her blaster and stepped through the threshold.

"W-Where are you going?" Guppy questioned after her.

Turning to face the small fishman, the lioness gave him a sheepish look before answering, "For some reason, I've got this really bad feeling that something bad is going to happen." Without further justification, she sprinted down the hallway, doing her best to get back to the upper deck.

Stepping through the door leading outside, Ariel is pushed back by a harsh gust of wind. Forcing herself forward, she looked to the sky and saw the purple clouds of a raging thunderstorm forming. Lightning struck rapidly overhead, and from where she stood on deck, the sand waves looked way more erratic than normal.

She looked up the stairs leading to the upper deck and saw her king, Tygra, Cheetara, and the captain all yelling at each other. Tightening her grip on her blaster, she covers her face from the raging wind and falling debris as she makes her way toward the quarrel. Climbing up the stairs, Ariel kept pushing herself forward, boing her best not to be thrown around by the wind. But the wind was more powerful, easily shoving from side to side. Yet as she was pushed roughly into the railing of the stairs she felt the ship shudder under her bare feet, which made her nervous.

"What on Third Earth is going on up here?!" Ariel hollered as she reached the top. The cats and fish went silent at her scream and turned towards her. Koinelius stared at her with his one good eye, and the lioness was reminded of Guppy who she had left downstairs. Then her eyes zeroed in on the lion who stood at the helm. "And who in their right mind let Lion-O steer the ship?"

"Haha, I see you're just as soft as the rest of the chum on this ship," the old koi fish taunted. Koinelius tuned to Lion-O, "C'mon lad it's just you and me!"

A crazed smile pulled on Lion-O's lips, "I'm right beside you, captain."

Together, the lioness, tiger, and cheetah watched in bewilderment as their proud king followed after the vengeful koi fish. They all stood frozen as Lion-O perched himself on the mast, cutting down any falling debris that was going to hit the sail with the Sword of Omens.

_What was he thinking?!_

No matter how hard the young lion tried, several large chunks of rock blew past him, tearing large holes in the sails and greatly damaging the main mast of the ship. But he continued, while Koinelius sat at the controls of the large plasma cannon that sat at the edge of the ship, shooting down any pieces of debris he could. The maniacal laughter that fell from their mouths, made Ariel's skin crawl.

"Don't forget to save some for the Ramlak," Lion-O bellowed from his perch. Ariel's shoulders fell in defeat as she realized that her leader, their king, had been fully consumed by his rage and pride.

"But really, what's going on?" she asked over the loud wind.

Cheetara was the one who answered her question. "Lion-O spotted the Ramlak, and even though it leads straight into a storm, he directed the ship to follow after it. We advised against it, but he said he would not let anything get in his way. Including us."

Shocked, Ariel felt herself stop breathing. _You mean we're going towards the thing that tried to kill us._

The falling rocks soon ceased, and the clouds shifted from a lilac purple into ominous black. The lightning that scattered the skies began striking multiples times a second.

Then out of the golden fluid sand rose the Ramlak. The loud moans from the vast tentacled sea anemone type creature echoed through the air as it swung its green limbs down on the ship. Ariel gawked at the massive sea beast, wondering if they truly had any chance of defeating it.

Blue blood spilled on the deck as the fishmen and ThunderCats fought against the tentacles that coiled around the ship. Ariel kneeled on the upper deck, bracing her blaster above the railing as the ship rocked under the weight of the Ramlak that wrapped its enlarged tentacles around it. From her vantage point, the lioness had a wide view of the deck, and she used that to her advantage. She kept both eyes open, watching the fight, firing at tentacles that ventured to close to her friends and leader.

The ship splintered and cracked under the extreme pressure exerted by the Ramlak's tentacles until it was crushed. The broken ship fell into the golden sand, taking its passengers down with it. Ariel tried to keep a grip on the railing, but she lost her footing and stumbled over the edge, falling into the Sand Sea. As the lioness fell into the sea without a splash, she noticed that the sand was less dense than she thought it was. Still holding tight to her blaster, she used her free arm to swim through the fluid-like sand. She breached above the waves and coughed up a mouthful of sand, spitting vigorously to get the gritty taste off her tongue.

Wadding around in the water, she looked around checking if there were any other survivors. She saw quite a few stranded fishmen that was struggling to swim. The deep baritone sound of the Ramlak sounded directly behind her, sending her into a panic. Spinning around so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash, Ariel turned just in time to witness the monstrous anemone-like creature retreat beneath the waves, dragging the crazed captain Koinelius down with it.

_Good riddance _she thought sourly. But Ariel soon regretted that thought as she recalled that the insane pirate was Guppy's loved one. And was probably the only one he had left.

A feeling of guilt washed over the lioness much like the waves she swam through, and she could only brush the thought aside as she tried to find where the other survivors had gone. Keeping her head above the sand, she was surprised to find Lion-O standing on a pile of floating wood, pulling drifting fishmen onto the makeshift raft.

_Probably just came to his senses,_ the lioness thought sarcastically.

She pulled herself aboard and was trying to shake all the excess sand out of her tan fur when a desperate cry for help met her ears. Looking out across the waves, Ariel tried to find who was desperately calling for help. That's when she saw Guppy waving both webbed arms wildly in the air. Then a large wave crashed over his head, dragging him under.

"Guppy!" Ariel yelled after him. Dropping the blaster from her hand and unclipping the shield from her side, the lioness dived into the golden waves. She held her breath as she swam through the Sand Sea, driving herself deeper until she could see the outline of the young koi fish.

Gripping Guppy by his skinny arm, Ariel kicks her legs as hard as she can to try and reach the surface. The lack of air burned her lungs, and the weight of the unconscious fishman was slowly dragging her down. But the lioness kept pushing.

Breaking the surface, she breathed in multiple deep breaths before looking around for the raft. Spotting it, Ariel called out for the cat that she trusted the most, "Tygra!"

The tiger reacted quickly, diving towards her and the knocked out koi fish. He swam around the other side of Guppy and took him by the arm, and together, the two ThunderCats were able to successfully get to the raft.

Ariel threw the limp koi fish onto the wood before propping herself up. A large tan hand extended out to help her. She looks up and finds the hand was connected to Lion-O who has seemingly mellowed out at the disappearance of the captain and beast.

"Here, let me help you," he suggested softly. Ariel hesitated before placing her small hand into his large one. The young king carefully hoisted her out of the sand up onto their floating vessel. "Thanks," she mumbled out as she walked past him.

After clipping the shield back into place, she stepped towards the now conscious Guppy. Multiple fishmen kneeled around the young koi fish, but none dared to touch him as he coughed up lungfuls of sand. Ariel patted his shoulder lightly.

Turning to her group, the lioness began to ask what they should do next, but they had already started working on it.

Lion-O grabbed hold of a harpoon gun and shot towards the large piece of the ship that remained floating above the sand. In amazement, the lioness stands back to behold her proud king take hold of the rope connected to the harpoon and pull their raft towards safety.

"Pull Lion-O, you've got it," WilyKit cheered as the lion king heaved the ship through the sand.

Once every animal was safely on board, Ariel breathed a sigh of relief.

"You steered us into a quite a storm, Lion-O," Cheetara scolded sassily.

"Yeah, you jumped off the deep end there for a while," Ariel added as she leaned against the cheetah.

Lion-O looked down, avoiding their eyes. "I'm sorry. I lost sight of what was important. And for that I am-"

The haunting sound of the moaning Ramlak returned, and out from the sea jumped the wild sea beast. Ariel had enough time to raise her blaster, but she was too slow.

Two pink limbs had wrapped around Lion-O and yanked him into the air.

"No!" Cheetara yelled.

"Lion-O," Tygra called.

"Give him back you slimy sack of tentacles," WilyKat hollered.

"For the love of Omens," the lioness cried, "give him back!" Too afraid to possibly injure Lion-O, Ariel lowered her weapon and stared at the scene in front of her in horror.

In one fell swoop, the Ramlak raised Lion-O high above its head and pulled him into its gaping mouth. Ariel went numb.

The horror of watching a loved one get hurt in front of her replayed, and all thoughts and movement ceased functioning. Her body went cold and her mind went blank.

It was the screams of the wildcat twins that shook her from her stupor. Eating her king was not enough because the Ramlak had lurched forward to attack the remaining ThunderCats and fishermen. She fiercely glared at the sea monster and stepped forward, placing her body between her small friends and the insatiable monster. Raising her blaster again, Ariel placed her finger on the trigger, ready to unloaded a barrage of plasma bolts on the Ramlak. Then she heard a familiar noise.

The unmistakable sound of the growling Sword of Omens.

The monstrous sea creature stilled, then a blue blade sliced from within its gullet, piercing through its skin and pouring out its innards. A cascade of clear blue water cascaded from within the Ramlak, with Lion-O riding its wave.

Excited and joyful cheers from the fishmen as an abundant amount of water poured out from the Ramlak. It wasn't until later that Ariel was told that the sea creature had swallowed up the only oasis of the barren desert, and that is why Koinelius had been hunting after it for years.

The pool of water was a refreshing sight from the never-ending sandy waves of the Sand Sea. Together the ThunderCats stood on the bank of the oasis, bidding their final farewell to the crew of fishmen. Ariel stepped up to a certain small koi fish and gave him an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry about your grandfather," she said.

"Me too," he responded sorrowfully.

The lioness tilted her head sadly before taking a step closer to hug Guppy. "I know it's hard, life is always hard. But you have to learn to keep pushing. To keep living. You have to understand, he drove himself to this. To him, nothing was more important than killing that wretched beast. Which you honestly y'all had no hope in doing until we got here," she joked as she pushed herself away from the pale yellow fishman.

Guppy nodded gloomily as he wiped away the tears that began falling down his face.

"Remember Guppy," Ariel whispered. "Never stop believing you are enough because you are. Never settle for something you don't want to do. Besides, I believe there's a new opening for a head chef for the ship."

Her mention of the cooking position instantly brightened the depressed koi fish.

A huge grin broke out across her face as she peered down at Guppy. Unclipping the knife from her side, Ariel held the weapon out to the yellow fish. "Just a little goodbye present, so you'll always remember me and what I taught you. Besides, you might be using it more than I will. Thanks for the holster for the blaster by the way." In the wreckage of the ship, Guppy found a shoulder holster for her blaster. That was the farewell gift that he had given her.

Lithe webbed fingers gingerly took the blade out of her hand, and two teary orange eyes looked up at her with pure admiration and respect. "I'll never forget," he wept as he cradled the sheathed knife close to his chest.

The lioness patted Guppy's head affectionately before she turned around to join her fellow ThunderCats on their new vehicle that will help them cross the Sand Sea.

Seating herself beside the twins, Ariel leans back on her hands as she waits with the others for Lion-O.

"We better get moving before the sunsets," the older tiger called after his adoptive brother.

The fiery red-haired lion turned to them with a blank look on his face.

"So, what orders do you have for your crew?" Cheetara asked with curious eyes.

Ariel raises an eyebrow at the question, interested in how the lion would answer.

"Set a course for the Book of Omens," his confident voice rang out. The grin that Ariel had on her face grew wider.

_Finally._

"Aye, Aye captain," Cheetara excitedly saluted.

"And what do we do with these three stowaways?" Tygra wondered.

Kit and Kat put on their best 'innocent kitten' face and looked to the proud lion with helplessly cute purrs and meows. Lion-O shifted his gaze from the twins to her slouched form, to which she simply raised her white blaster and winked at the king flirtatiously.

"I said I'm not going to babysit," he addressed seriously. "It's a good thing they've proven they can take care of themselves." Cheering in victory, the wildcat siblings jump up enthusiastically. Ariel giggled at their childish antics.

The engine of the speed boat roared to life as Lion-O stepped on board. The lioness began to stand up on feet, but fate had other plans. Because at that exact moment, the tiger pushed on the gas and the vehicle lurched forward, knocking her off-balance. Nearly falling back into the golden wave, a strong arm caught her by her waist and pulled her back upright. Small hands met a chiseled chest and emerald eyes met royal blue.

"Careful there," Lion-O teased. "Don't want to fall in."

"Yeah," she agreed dumbly. An uncomfortable warm feeling settled over her cheeks as she stared into the deep eyes of her savior. "Ummm, thanks. Again."

"No problem," he shrugged as he pulled her upright. Patting her shoulder in a friendly manner, brushing past her to take a seat to hold Snarf in his lap.

Her rapidly beating heart never slowed as she withdrew her gaze from the young lion prince. She sighed quietly to herself as she stood next to Tygra, staring across the horizon, watching the setting sun fall from view.

* * *

Hours later, after they had crossed the Sand Sea to their original location, the ThunderCats followed the path they had taken earlier in the day. The sun had set not too long after they finally reached land, but the felines did not stop to rest. They ventured on, desperate to make up the time they had lost.

"This way," Ariel directed. "If we keep following through the Green Canyon, we'll reach the River of Despair before midnight." The lioness had studied the map before nightfall, and with Cheetara's help, they were able to guess the location of the mysterious Tower of Omens. "The Tower lies beyond the Forest of Silence, so if we keep going, I'm sure we'll find it within the fortnight."

The ThunderCats groaned at her declaration but obeyed her instruction.

"How does she have so much energy?" she heard Kit ask her brother.

"I have no idea," he answered.

"I had a quick catnap on the ride," Ariel called over her shoulder.

"Lucky," Kat drawled from behind her.

_If only he knew._

The lioness had huddled up against the hull of the boat, leaning against Cheetara's long legs. She remembered the feeling of long fingers brushing through her hair and then darkness. When their boat reached land, she jolted awake before leaping onto sturdy land.

To her group, she looked energetic and willing to go on for hours, but in reality, she was a nervous wreck. A nightmare she could not remember haunted her, made her body shake in anxiety.

It was when the Cheshire moon hung high in the night sky, and Ariel saw the end of the canyon did she yield to set up for the night

"Finally," Tygra complained exasperatedly. The older male plopped himself down on the ground and fell asleep as soon as he laid down. The wildcat kittens chuckled at the dramatic display. The tall cheetah hummed to herself as she started busying herself to make a small fire. Lion-O leaned on a tree as he watched the group settle down.

Placing herself between the roots of a large tree that stood nearby, Ariel placed her blaster and shield aside. She sat and watched as the kittens yawned and curled into each other by the fire, quickly succumbing to sleep. Cheetara wasn't far behind them as she laid on the ground between Lion-O and Tygra.

But Ariel couldn't sleep. She couldn't remember much of her dream from earlier, but she did remember the sound of screaming.

Screams of pain that troubled her greatly. Fiddling with her pendant, the lioness bit her lip in anxiety as she began to lean against her tree. She sat cross-legged, staring at the passionately waving wisps of the small fire.

Moving her hand, she grabbed the end of her braid and pulled it over her bare shoulder. The feeling of small grains of sand falling from her hair made her frown slightly. Without looking away from the fire, Ariel unties the end of her hair and begins uncurling it.

She pushes her fingers between the gaps in her braid, trying her best to get the gritty grains of sand out of her dark locks. When she finished, she let her hair hang loosely against her back. Satisfied, she relishes in the silence of the night as she quietly watches the

It's only when someone coughed did the lioness realize she had an audience. When her eyes met the eyes of her current leader, all words escaped her, and the blushing feeling she had back on the boat remerged.

And that was when Ariel remembered why she had a crush on the lion. Thankful for the darkness of the night and her tan fur that hid the color on her cheeks, the lioness nodded her head at the young royal lion.

"Sorry about the other day," Lion-O apologized. "I admit, that wasn't exactly my best moment." Ariel snickers at his declaration.

_That's an understatement._

The lion king continues, "So please don't misunderstand me, it's not you that I was angry at. I was angry about this whole situation."

The lioness nods at her leader's words and quickly apologizes as well. "I'm sorry too. I wasn't exactly nice to you either. I've been told I have quite a mouth and should learn to keep quiet. But what does an overgrown salamander know about etiquette?"

The red-haired lion laughs at her joke, scooting closer to her to whisper in her ear, "I heard what happened between you and Tygra. Good job. I've never seen him lose a fight, and I'm sure you would have wiped the floor with him from Kit told me."

Ariel's face burned at Lion-O's compliment.

"It was nothing," she waved it off. "Kitty stopped us before we could get serious anyway."

"Tygra is always serious. If I have learned anything from training beside him, it's that Tygra always fights to win. And hey, don't put yourself down, I saw the bruise you put on his side and I gotta say, it looks like it hurt." Finishing his sentence, the tom points in the direction of the sleeping tiger.

Then two lions freeze when Tygra abruptly started wiggling and grumbling loudly in his sleep. Staring at each other for a heartbeat, Ariel could only chuckle at the timing.

"It's like he knows when I'm talking about him," Lion-O whispers.

"Well, he's your brother, that's what siblings do," the lioness giggled.

The lion prince looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking, "Do you have any siblings?"

The question is like a cold bucket of water, harsh and unforgiving. The reality that Ariel didn't know if her twin brother was alive made her feel helpless and alone. "Yeah, I had—have—a twin brother, Gurr. He looks nothing like me, we are complete opposites," she choked out. "He is super lazy and not driven to do anything except eat, sleep, and fight. Actually, he was an archer that was stationed at the wall during the attack."

From beside her, Lion-O softly pats her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Ariel, we'll get him back. We'll get them all back."

Ariel nods her head and beams at the young lion.

Seemingly done with their conversation, the female lion turns away from the prince before laying back to stare at the stars. Getting the message, Lion-O pushes away from the lioness to his prior sleeping place.

The stars twinkled in the night sky, and after finding a few constellations her astronomy teacher had taught her, Ariel's eyelids grew heavy. Exhaustion from the excitement of the day quickly consumed her.

* * *

A/N: Ngl, this is the most I have ever written for any story I have ever done. Literally a week's worth of work that I will never get back. It was so hard in the beginning but I hope y'all like it.

Big shoutout to my followers and reviewers: **Heart of Demons, frankannestein, NevaehMichelle13, medicalkitten, Seeds of Destruction, SwanGirl24, White Tiger Bumblebee, digilover23, kittycatcharlie, machonacho818, OceanStormer, Lionessa, Jennifer Worthington, Atea1793**, and **Champion of Justice**.

I honestly almost quit halfway through this chapter but after reading all the comments, I pushed on to finish this damn thing. I hope everyone is being safe and healthy. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take me as long to write, but we'll see. Until next time.

~Star

PS: Can anyone guess who was the one to train and encourage Ariel when she was younger?


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